True LoveOr Is It?
by metallicgirl42
Summary: Hogwarts is having another Yule Ball! Snape wants to go with the Assistant DADA teacher, Professor Meg Smith, but there's a problem. She hates him! Snape really wants to find a date, though, so he puts a spell called a 'Romance Charm' on Meg. Set in yr 5.
1. Introduction

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Andrea were eating their breakfast at the Gryffindor table, when they looked over at the teachers' table, and saw Dumbledore standing up to make an announcement. He banged his fist loudly on the table for attention, and the room instantly quieted.

"I wish that would happen when I did that," said Ron rather wistfully.

"I have an announcement to make," said Dumbledore. "Even though we're not planning on having another one of those TriWizard Tournament things again this year, I would like to say that many people had fun at the Yule Ball, we're going to do that again. Only this time, every teacher has to go with another teacher this time, and they can't choose to skive off."

Professor McGonagall looked up at Dumbledore hopefully.

"Yes, Minerva, I will go with you," said Dumbledore. "In fact, I think I was going to ask you just before I finished making this announcement."

Harry looked over at the teacher's table. Professor Smith, their Assistant Defense teacher, was jabbering away to Professor Trelawney, who was looking intrigued. Professor Lockhart, who was the actual teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts, was trying to work his way into the conversation, but Snape was pulling him back with one spell or another. Harry knew Snape and Lockhart both wanted Meg Smith to ask them, but she thought Lockhart was too stupid, Snape too evil. Harry almost wouldn't mind if she had asked him, with her long blonde hair, brown eyes, and pink dress robes.

"So who are you going to ask, Harry?" said Hermione, knowing the answer.

"You," said Harry. Hermione nodded and high-fived him. Harry knew his twin sister, Andrea, was going to ask Ron, because they had been going out almost as long as Harry and Hermione had. The two were French-kissing at the moment. Ron had hated kissing until Andrea had introduced it to him.

Harry and Andrea had been separated from each other when they were both a year old. Voldemort attacked Harry's house when Harry was home but Andrea was at a special magical day-care center (she had lots of friends there and so Lily and James let her go there even when they were home). Harry's parents died and he was sent to live with the horrible Dursleys. He was, of course, a lot more famous than his twin sister, Andrea, who had lived with another wizard family until she was old enough to go to Hogwarts, and met Harry for the first time. Dumbledore had told them this story, and they had discovered they were twins, and Andrea discovered how much she liked Ron, and they started going out, while Harry and Hermione went out together too, but the four were also best friends now.

Harry looked over at his twin sister. Sometimes she just made him so mad, but other times he was glad he had been able to meet somebody like her.


	2. Fighting Over Meg

Snape and Lockhart were both fighting for Meg, but she liked neither of them. They found it extremely hard to believe she wouldn't give up, and ask one of them out, but she never did. The question was, who was she going to ask to the Yule Ball?

"Anyway, Sybil, I can't believe how almost everybody in my class got how to banish the pixies from the room," Meg was saying. "Even that Lockhart couldn't, the idiot, he's supposed to be the teacher…Neville Longbottom had a hard time with it too, actually, and I had to get him down from the chandelier, but he's good at Herbology, Sprout told me all about it."

"Neville has a very bad future ahead of him," said Trelawney mysteriously. "He has no idea, oh, if only he did, he would be so miserable…You should watch out for him, Meg."

"I do, I do," said Meg.

Snape and Lockhart were both listening closely. Lockhart was being sad that Meg had just insulted him, while Snape was sneering at him. Lockhart's eyes suddenly went angry, and he pulled out his wand and turned on Snape. Before he knew it, he was hanging upside down in midair by his ankle. Snape's sneer was even more pronounced now as he twirled his own wand. "Wanna duel?"

"No," said Lockhart. "Please get me down, though."

Snape released Lockhart, who fell onto the ground with a loud thump. He got up, swaying slightly, and holding his hat onto his head as if it were a windy day out. He looked angrier now, and said, "She likes you no better than me, Snape, she'll insult you someday!"

"Like I would ever believe an idiot like you," said Snape coolly. "I agree with her."

"Yeah, well, you're stupid," said Lockhart. "I bet when you ask her out, she'll scream. I mean, if you have a nose like that, who would want to date you?"

"If I had a Galleon for every brain you don't have," said Snape through gritted teeth, "I would have one Galleon."

"Hey, you're mean!" said Lockhart, angrily stuffing a spoonful of oatmeal into his mouth. "I don't like you at all. I thought we were friends!"

"How can we be friends if we hate each other?" said Snape. He turned back to Meg, watching her every move. She was still talking to Trelawney. Snape hung on her every word. She tossed her blonde hair and laughed at something Trelawney had said to her. Snape knew he would have to ask her out soon, otherwise he might accidentally trample her or something.

That afternoon at lunchtime, Snape caught Meg on her way to the lunchroom. To get her to turn around, he summoned up a couch cushion and blasted it. Meg turned around and saw Snape, who banished the cushion and pocketed his wand, smiling at Meg.

"Umm…can I help you?" said Meg. Snape thought she looked especially pretty. Her blonde hair was curling around her shoulders, the perfect shade for her brown eyes.

"Four words," said Snape. "You, me, Yule Ball, together."

"You?" said Meg incredulously, half-laughing. "I wouldn't go anywhere with you, Snape, if you were the last man on earth."

As she walked away, Snape cursed her silently but didn't take out his wand as he watched her go into the Great Hall for lunch.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Lockhart purposely arrived late to lunch. Snape was sitting next to the other three Heads of House, which meant to Lockhart that he could sit next to Meg and Snape couldn't. So he pulled out a chair and tried to look his best. Meg looked up at him strangely.

"Hello, Meg," said Lockhart. "Hey, how's about we go to the Yule Ball together?"

"Umm. Thanks, Lockhart, but…"

"Call me Gilderoy."

"As I was saying," Meg said, "thanks, but no thanks. I'm going with somebody else. I don't know who it is yet, but I definitely know it's not you."

Lockhart looked at Meg sadly as she moved to the other side of Professor McGonagall. He just wished she would go somewhere with him. Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore were going with each other, the same with Flitwick and Sprout. Lockhart wondered if Snape had already asked Meg to go with him to the Yule Ball, and what she had said. He figured if Snape was sitting with Flitwick, Sprout, and McGonagall, then she had probably told him she wouldn't. This lifted his spirits some, but his mind just kept on thinking about how Meg told him no, too.

Lockhart was eating his meal in silence when Dumbledore talked to him.

"What's the matter, Gilderoy?" he said kindly.

"Oh…I just asked Meg to go to the Yule Ball with me and she said no. I think she said the same thing to Snape, too, but I really want her to go with me."

"Find somebody else to go with," said Dumbledore, eyes twinkling. "Sybil's still free."

"I wanna go with Meg," Lockhart whined.

"Look, Gilderoy…" Dumbledore put his arm around Lockhart, who sniffed loudly. "If she thinks you're not worthy of her attention, she's not worthy of yours."

"She's pretty, Albus!" said Lockhart. "Really pretty, I mean!"

"I know that," said Dumbledore, smiling in Meg's direction. "You're right, but I think you'll just have to accept her decision. Go to the Yule Ball with Sybil."

"She's not as pretty as…well, okay," said Lockhart. "Thanks, Albus."

"Don't mention it," said Dumbledore, going back to his seat next to Professor McGonagall. "She's been having trouble finding a date, too, believe me."

So Lockhart went over to Trelawney. "Hey, Sybil."

"What do you want with me?" said Trelawney, having just been rejected by Flitwick because he said he was already going with Sprout, who clapped her hands lovingly.

"Well, I was just wondering whether you'd want to go to the Yule Ball with me," said Lockhart, deciding to be straightforward. "I mean, I've been staring at you all day. I could never hope to be as good as predicting the future as you are. You have the makings of a true Seer."

Lockhart seemed to have hit gold. Trelawney squealed. Lockhart thought he could almost see the pure love pouring out of her ears. She threw her arms around him.

"Oh, yes, Gilderoy, I love you!" Trelawney cried. "You're the best man I could ever hope for, you are, oh, I love you so much!" She started slobbering all over him.

"Hey, hey, lady, lay off it!" Lockhart shouted, but Trelawney wouldn't.

So then she turned his head and began kissing him furiously. Lockhart kissed her back, finding he actually enjoyed it, and made a mental note to thank Dumbledore once again.


	3. Shellies

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Andrea were walking in the corridors to Defense class, since they had every class together, as Gryffindors. They approached the room, knowing that this class just wouldn't be as enjoyable as it normally would have been, since they were having it with the Slytherins. They didn't know why Dumbledore had even put Lockhart in this job, since all he ever did was make eyes at Meg while she taught the entire lesson to the two Houses they were teaching.

They walked in, seeing some Slytherins there, some Gryffindors. Meg was sitting in her desk and going over some papers while Lockhart looked longingly at her. Harry knew some Slytherins noticed this, since they could be heard sniggering, softly but uncontrollably.

"She doesn't have to go out with anybody she doesn't like, but she really has to find a date for this thing soon," Hermione was saying. "She's going to feel so left out."

"I think she's insane," said Andrea. "I mean, she's hot, and I totally admire her, but Lockhart's even hotter, you know? I would never have rejected him. I would have asked him out first. And I would have probably French-kissed him, too, don't you think I would have?"

"You like me more than him, Andrea, don't you?" Ron whimpered.

"Oh, of course I do, Ickle Ronniekins," said Andrea, puckering her lips up to Ron. Ron pulled away from her, though, because they weren't supposed to kiss in class.

"You know, Hermione, they're totally in love with each other," said Harry. "You're right about that love triangle thing with Snape, Meg, and Lockhart. Only Meg doesn't like either of them. She has to ask somebody out soon, or she won't look that pretty anymore…"

"They only like her for her looks and her money," Hermione scoffed. "She's so smart, when she went to school she was a Ravenclaw. She's an Auror and everything, she's caught some Dark wizards, it's not all about looks. And she's a pretty nice person, too, you know."

"She is," said Harry. "You can't argue she's pretty, though, Hermione."

"I know I can't," said Hermione. "She can make almost anybody fall for her if she wants them to, and without a Love Potion, the Imperius Curse, or a Romance Charm…I don't know why she's so pretty, I don't think she's part-veela, like Fleur Delacour was."

"Maybe she's just pretty, like some people are," said Harry, grinning at Hermione.

"Oh, stop it," said Hermione, but she was grinning too. She and Harry chose seats next to Andrea and Ron, of course, and sat down for the day's lesson.

"Today we'll be dealing with something you probably haven't heard of before," said Meg, standing next to a roundish shape with a cloth over it. "Lockhart and I…well, I did, mainly…Anyway, we both reached the decision that today, we learn about…"

She took the cloth off the cage. "Shellies!"

The whole class gasped. The Shellies looked like shells, except for they had eyes coming out of them, and they were shouting out words like, "Idiots!" and " Meg Smith smells like fish sticks!" It was very amusing; even to the people they seemed to be insulting.

"You see, they've got almost an intelligent mind," Meg said, smiling. "I can make these little dudes call you anything I want if I did the correct thing. Shellies are very dumb Dark creatures, they think they can make you cry or lose your way just by insulting you."

"Umm, you know what I think?" Lockhart said suddenly.

"What do you think?" said Meg, eyeing him carefully. Lockhart made his way over to the cage where the Shellies were, and prodded one of the little animals.

"I think the Shellies are mean." Lockhart prodded another one.

A Shelly reached a claw out. It was very unexpected thing for creatures like Shellies to have claws on them, but they did. Meg pulled Lockhart away, smiling again.

"They are mean, Professor Lockhart. "One of the meanest things they do is they try and take you by surprise, like one did just now. You wouldn't expect a Shelly to have a claw, would you? They have a lot of defenses, and claws aren't their only ones. That's why you're all here today."

"Professor Smith?" said Ron, raising his hand and looking at the Shellies fearfully. "Can I go to the bathroom for a second?"

"Yes, of course," said Meg Smith, and continued to teach her class as Ron left the room to go to the bathroom, even though Harry, Hermione, and Andrea all thought he was just trying to get away from the Shellies, who might bite him.

They spent a wonderful Defense lesson with Meg telling them how to get rid of Shellies if you were ever to find one near you and it was bothering you. She explained how the places you should look out for them most were on beaches and near roadsides.

They left their classroom after the lesson with smiles on their faces.


	4. The Romance Charm

As soon as school got out, and Snape had finished teaching a class to a group of overexcited first years, he retreated to his office again. He knew somebody was going to ask Meg out again, and it was only to be expected that she would say yes, since teachers needed dates.

He wondered what he should do to Meg. Maybe he should do a Love Potion on her…He had always been good at those, and since he had gone to school with her, he made one for her once, and she hadn't been able to get herself off him until three days, when the potion wore off. Snape decided not to try that one again. It would be hard to smuggle the Love Potion to her, anyway.

Maybe I should try the Imperius Curse, thought Snape. The thought went away from his mind as soon as it had come. Meg was an Auror, after all; she would be good at resisting any curse of his. And if anybody ever found out, Snape would be facing a life sentence in Azkaban.

His only option left, he discovered, was a Romance Charm. Those weren't illegal, they weren't hard to smuggle, and they certainly were hard to resist if you did them right. Snape thought he would be able to put a Romance Charm on Meg. It wouldn't wear off, either; the only way the Charm would go was if Snape lifted it, died, or Meg saw her true love, but she had none. So Snape decided he was going to put a Romance Charm on Meg, but only for the Yule Ball.

He wondered how he was going to get into Meg's office without her getting suspicious about what he was up to. Then he had an idea. He went to his desk and pulled out a little bag. Inside it was some powder, Floo Powder. He put into his fire and said, "Meg's office."

He didn't go inside the fire, but he could still see what Meg was doing. She was sitting on her bed and talking to a house-elf Snape knew was called Dobby.

"Dobby," she said, tears running down her face. "I don't know where he is. Nobody knows where he is now, not even Harry and his friends. He could be dead, for all I know."

_Where WHO is_? thought Snape, but he didn't hear a name.

"Meg Winston must not worry, ma'am," said Dobby in his squeaky little voice. "He is not dead, Harry Potter would know if he were dead. He is in hiding."

"I always liked him," said Meg sadly, as Dobby patted her arm helplessly. "When I asked him out when I went to school with him, he said no, that he didn't want to go out with me. He didn't say it meanly, but he was too involved in avoiding getting caught to bother with me. There was that other kid who liked me, I forget his name, he was pretty nice, but we never went out."

_I should go into the fire_, Snape thought. _I have to keep her from seeing this person. She doesn't know where he is, but it sounds to me like she really likes him. First, though, I have to get rid of that dumb house-elf, so there can't be anybody to bear witness to my Romance Charm_.

Snape went into the fire and emerged in Meg Smith's office. "Hey."

"What are you doing here, Snape?" Meg asked. "I thought I told you I wasn't ever going to go to the Yule Ball with you, and that was final. So just go away."

"I'm not here because of the Yule Ball," said Snape coldly. "I found somebody else to go with, and I like her much better than you, if you'll let me be frank." He hadn't, actually, but he thought if he made her think so, she would listen to what he was going to say to her next.

"What are you here for then?" Meg looked pretty even when she was crying.

"Dobby, please leave," said Snape. "We're going to be having a moment here, and we want to be alone, thanks very much. So can you get out of this room right now, please?"

The house-elf obliged, leaving Snape alone with Meg, who said, "So?"

"Well…I was just thinking I might have a date for you. You know, because you don't have a date, and you need one in a few days." This statement was also a lie.

"You have a date for me?" said Meg. "Who is he?"

"Turn around," said Snape simply. When she did, he pulled out his wand. Meg turned back around and said, "I don't see anybody, Snape, what are you playing…"

She never got to finish her sentence. Snape hit her hard with the Romance Charm. Her brown eyes went wide for a second, and then she collapsed onto the floor, completely unconscious. He wondered if that was supposed to happen after you just got a Romance Charm put on you, or if she had just fallen down due to the fact that Snape had hit her much too hard with his spell.

Snape reached tentatively for her hands and pulled her up to a standing position. Her blonde hair curled around her like it always had, but now her eyes were closed. Her hands gripped Snape, but he was sure she didn't know anything about what was going on around her.

Snape took her out of her office and Apparated with her to his office so nobody would see them in the halls together, certain it would arouse suspicion, and jealousy on Lockhart's part. Then he sat her down in a chair in his office and got some water from the washroom in a cup. He poured it over her head, and it fell on top of her. She would notice him standing here any second…

"Severus!" she squealed. Snape did a double take as Meg jumped into his arms. "You saved me, you really did! Something big hit me on my back, and I fainted! And then you poured water on me, I'd have died if you hadn't saved me!" She looked up into his eyes.

"Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?"


	5. Dealing with Lockhart

That next day at breakfast, Lockhart was watching Meg strangely. She just didn't seem to be herself this morning. Lockhart shoved some oatmeal into his mouth and looked at her closely. She was…no way, it just could not be. She was sitting next to Snape! And, speaking of, Snape wasn't wearing his usual black robes today. Today he was wearing…red and gold? The colors of his rival House! Lockhart spit out his oatmeal and accidentally splattered it all over McGonagall in his surprise.

"Gilderoy, please try to control where your food goes," said McGonagall strictly. "I know you're excited for the Yule Ball tomorrow, but, please try to contain your enthusiasm."

"Sorry, Minerva," said Lockhart. "Won't happen again."

Lockhart looked over at the other side of the table that had Snape and Meg sitting at it, as close as two people could be without being actually squished. Meg was actually snuggling Snape, and there was no doubting on Lockhart's part that if Meg had been any other woman, Snape would have just blasted her off, but he seemed to be enjoying it. Lockhart was amazed at himself to find that he was so confused that his brain didn't have very much room for jealousy. How did Snape do that? Lockhart made up his mind to ask him before the school day was over.

Meg wasn't even herself at Defense class. Lockhart had to just tell them about how many extraordinary things he had done before he came to teach his class, while Meg just stared dreamily out of the window, her thoughts obviously on nothing but Severus Snape.

Finally, at lunchtime, Lockhart saw Snape and Megarrive early. They sat down at the bench where the teachers sat. Lockhart plopped himself down next to Snape. Just then, he felt something brush against his legs. He looked down, and saw that it was Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat. He moved away so she'd just leave him alone. Nobody wanted a cat tattling on them to Filch, not even Lockhart.

Lockhart had to bore his students with more "adventures," because Meg wouldn't help. She seemed like she wasn't aware of where she was; just kept staring out the window and sighing romantically, which was grossing out Lockhart. She was usually just so down-to-earth…

When school got out for the day, Lockhart went into Snape's office. Snape was grading papers, shaking his head, and trying to take a lot of points from Gryffindor. He looked up as Lockhart slammed the door behind him and sat down in a chair, but he certainly wasn't very angry.

"Snape, I saw you with Meg this morning," said Lockhart. "What I want to know is, how did you make her like you so fast? I can't even get her to look at me, you know?"

"Lockhart, I don't know what you're talking about," lied Snape. "I didn't do anything to make her like me, you know. I think she just came to her senses and loved me as much as I love her. Oh…and if you were wondering, she said red and gold looks good with my hair, don't you think?"

Lockhart stared at Snape, his mouth open in amazement. Snape, who usually wore all black and didn't care about his hair, was now asking if red and gold looked good on him.

"Umm, yeah, it looks great," said Lockhart fearfully. "I just want to know, then, what you were acting like yesterday. What did you say to her? When did she start loving you?"

Snape abruptly stood up from his desk and walked over to Lockhart, gripping his robes. "That is for me to know and you never to find out, Lockhart. If you ever burst in on me again like that, you'll never be able to look out of those chipmunky eyes of yours ever again. Got it?"

"Got it," said Lockhart in the biggest voice he could muster, which wasn't very big.

"Good," said Snape. "If you want to find out how to make somebody other than Meg like you, go and talk to some prat who can actually tolerate your stupidity."

Lockhart left the room with his mood even more downcast than it had been before. _Maybe Snape didn't want me to steal Margaret from him just when he's got her_, he thought. _I wouldn't want that, either, but I wouldn't have used whatever it is he has and I don't on Margaret. I would have found another person, like Trelawney, and used it on them or something, probably_.

Lockhart looked at all the portraits, telling him to slow down and watch where he was going. His thoughts kept coming quicker than he could decipher what they meant. _I mean, Snape's won Margaret fair and_ _square, and I haven't_._ I shouldn't even try to get her to like me_.

He raced down the corridors, not knowing at all where he was going.


	6. Four Kids on the Case

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Andrea were going up to the common room that evening. They too had noticed that Snape seemed to have given up his Goth look.

"I think he's lost his Pretty Ponies," said Ron, referring to a kind of toy unicorn Ginny used to play with when she was younger.

"No, he's lost his marbles," said Harry.

"He's lost his cookies," said Andrea.

Hermione looked at them and shook her head. "He's lost his mind with love for Smith, and he gave her a Love Potion or something, and she totally fell for it."

"Oh, of course," said Ron. "I forgot he was the evil Potions teacher."

"I can't believe you forgot that, Ron," said Andrea. "He just taught us today. He was a little bit spacey too, if you ask me. Kept going back to his desk and ignoring us…he didn't take any points at all from our House today. He actually took five points from Malfoy."

"Oh, yeah, I remember," said Harry. "He was totally insane. I think I like this Snape better. He totally supports Gryffindor when he's in love with Meg. You know, I think after he fed her one of those Love Potions, she fed him one. They're both totally loopy."

Hermione laughed. "Well, it's possible…"

"I just want the old Meg back," said Ron. "You're right about the Love Potions. He's got to be doing something to her, she hates him when she's in her normal state."

"I know, she does," said Andrea. "What's he playing at?"

"It's sort of romantic, actually," said Hermione. "I mean, think about it. He slaved away in his office for hours getting the exact right ingredients for the Love Potion, probably in the Forbidden Forest, too, and then after she liked him he almost went mad for her, you know? He gave up his style, if you can call that style, his loyalty to Slytherin House…He gave everything up for her."

"It's Snape, Hermione," said Harry. "He couldn't be romantic if you paid him for it."

"He has a point," said Ron. "I think he's just being stupid. Meg hates him. It just won't be the same if he gives her some potion, she'll still hate him really deep inside…"

"So you can't mix up love in a cauldron," said Andrea. "Ron and me, though…"

"You guys are weird," said Hermione, finding it rather hard to find an adjective that accurately described the relationship between Andrea and Ron. "Harry and I don't kiss in public, but you wouldn't care if the Minister of Magic himself could have interviewed you, would you?"

"Of course they wouldn't," said Harry. "You mean Cornelius Fudge?"

"Yeah," said Ron. "Is there another Minister of Magic? I think Andrea and me would gladly spend an interesting day French-kissing rather than spend a boring interview with the Minister of Magic. My dad works at the Ministry, and he says it's boring enough being there all day."

"Oh, we're here, guys," said Andrea. She turned to the Fat Lady, said, "Peacock Feather," and the portrait hole opened. The four Gryffindors climbed inside. They tried to sit in chairs, but they were just so bored they couldn't concentrate, and not to mention that they were tired, too. Finally, they all decided to just go back up to bed for the night. Hermione and Andrea headed up the girls' staircase, Harry and Ron going up the boys' staircase, but all four of them really wanted to talk.

Harry and Ron changed into their pajamas as soon as they got into their dorm room, and they got into their beds. Harry noticed that Neville was sleeping. He motioned to Ron and flapped his arm in the direction of their sleeping roommate. Ron nodded and turned over, but didn't close his eyes.

"Harry," he whispered. "Neville's a deep sleeper. Nothing we say will wake him up, as long as we don't shout stuff. What are you thinking about Snape?"

"He's as weird as he always was," said Harry. "I can't say I like the old Snape better than this one, though, because Smith somehow made him even weirder. He actually took points from his own House, today, five, and none from Gryffindor, his rival House."

"I know, it's so weird," said Ron. "What's he playing at? He knows he gave Smith something to make her like him, a Love Potion, I think, and now…" Ron sniggered. "He thinks he's got her." Ron looked at Harry, Harry looked at Ron, and they burst out laughing.

"How does he…think he's…got her?" said Harry, laughing hard, his breath only coming to him in short little gasps. "She…hates him…when she's in…her right mind!"

Ron just kept laughing harder than Harry, managing to get a few words in between the way he was almost choking with laughter. "Snape…Smith…Love Potion…"

"Really, Ron," Harry laughed, surprising himself at how much he sounded like Hermione.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Meanwhile, up in their dorm room, Andrea and Hermione were putting their pajamas on and getting into their beds, too. Andrea had painted the walls of their dorm room pink, because she had claimed that the gray color was too dull. Now she was in her bed, thinking about how funny it was that Snape had given their Defense teacher a Love Potion. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"It's not that funny, Andrea. He likes her more than he likes any of us."

"That's why it's so funny," said Andrea. "I mean, just how does he expect Smith to like him, anyway, considering she's hated him ever since they met? When she came into the school he was staring up at her like she was so pretty, and, believe it, she is really pretty, actually."

"Know what, Andrea?" said Hermione, remembering something. "I think Snape knew Smith from school, and that also means that she knew your parents, Andrea."

"How do you know these things?" said Andrea incredulously.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out," Hermione almost scoffed, rolling her eyes. "When they said her name on our first day back, she shook hands with every teacher. Lockhart was staring at her like she had just came down from a flying saucer, but Snape, he said, 'Meg, how very nice to see you again. And I must ask, how have you been since we have last seen each other?' It's true. I know he likes her because he never composes himself like that around us, especially Gryffindors."

"That doesn't prove they went to school together," said Andrea.

"Of course not, but I think they did, anyway," said Hermione. "Remember, Lupin said there was this girl Snape always threw snowballs at, and that you could always tell a guy liked you if he threw stuff at you, and Lupin said he thought her name was Meg something, but he didn't remember? He said she was a Ravenclaw and she always was studying, never dated anybody."

"It could have been a different Meg," said Andrea reluctantly.

"Come on, Andrea, why couldn't it be? They look around the same age, Snape and Smith. And there aren't that many people named Meg, either. It had to be her."

"Well," said Andrea, an idea hatching in her head. "She's under the influence of a Love Potion, so we can ask her if she went to school with Snape, and she'll tell us the truth. We can bet on it. One Galleon for if Smith went to school with Snape. You up to it, Hermione?"

"You've got yourself a bet," said Hermione.

"I get to share Harry's salary," Andrea said. "Wait, Hermione, where do you get your Wizarding money, anyway? Maybe you should give me a Muggle Galleon."

"I think you mean a dollar, Andrea," said Hermione, half-laughing. "And don't worry about it, I'm making a Wizarding account in Gringotts. I get a summer job in my Muggle house, and then when I go shopping for my school supplies in Diagon Alley, I turn my Muggle money into Wizarding money. They do that at Gringotts, didn't you know? Oh, you wouldn't…"

"You know a lot more about Muggles than I do," said Andrea, smiling.

"Well, of course I do," said Hermione. "Did you forget I was Muggle-born? You lived with a family of wizards all your life. You don't know hardly anything about the Wizarding world, you know just as much as Ron does, Andrea. And so, just look…we should just ask Smith tomorrow if she went to school with Snape, because if she really did go to school with Snape, then she went to school with your parents. I think they were in the same year, but I don't know."

"Yeah, I think they were," said Andrea. "I'm tired, now, so let's just go to sleep. Tomorrow, when we have the chance, we can ask Meg if she went to school with Snape."

"Okay," said Hermione, and she turned out the light.


	7. Meg's Anger

That morning, after Defense class, Hermione and Andrea held back, so they could ask Meg the question they were betting on. Lockhart, exhausted after having to once again bore his students with the things he had done in the books published about him, looked at them as they took a long time to gather their materials. He strode over to them with a tired expression on his face.

"Girls, shouldn't you be getting to your next class?" he said.

"Actually, we want to ask Professor Smith a question," said Hermione. "We wanted to ask her something about this Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson, you know?"

"Meg is unable to tell anybody anything at the moment," said Lockhart, the tiredness showing in his face even more plainly than before. "You saw her, girls. She's totally in love with Severus Snape. I can't get anything out of her unless it's about something wonderful he did."

"I think I can," said Andrea. "Please, Professor Lockhart, can't we?"

"Oh, all right," Lockhart told Hermione and Andrea. "I'll write you a pass, so you won't lose any points from your next teacher. Okay, excused to ask teacher question…" He took out his wand, conjuring a pass that excused Hermione and Andrea for being late. He seemed surprised one of his spells had actually worked for him, instead of just backfiring, like it had with the Cornish Pixies.

Hermione and Andrea went to go get Meg. They led her into the hall, so Lockhart wouldn't be able to hear their conversation. Meg Smith looked at them quizzically.

"Professor Smith," said Andrea bluntly, "did you go to school with Snape?"

"You mean Severus?" said Meg. The two girls thought they could see her eyes filling up with love for the Potions teacher. "Yes. We were in the same year together. He liked throwing snowballs at me, I can't exactly figure out why. I was a Ravenclaw, he was a Slytherin, but I think we would've gone out, if there had been more time. See, he wasn't in very many of my classes…"

"Told you, Andrea," whispered Hermione to Andrea. "You owe me one Galleon."

"He was always so handsome…even though most people thought he was ugly, he was really so cool, and this stupid person named James Potter kept on picking on him…I didn't think he was too bad at the time, I was friends with Lily Evans, best friends, she didn't think Severus was bad, she said she didn't like him or dislike him…I thought he was…I hated him then, but now…"

"Okay, so are you going to the Yule Ball with him?" said Andrea.

"Yes, I am," said Meg. "I told him he should wear his red-and-gold robes…He looked so cute in them, don't you think? Oh, if I could just hold him for a long time…"

Andrea pretended to be barfing behind Meg's back, while Hermione stared up at Meg in absolute astonishment. She wanted to hold Snape? Hermione didn't like it, but she thought Snape had to be one heck of a good Potions teacher to make a Love Potion that was that strong.

"You see, I know he likes me best," Meg continued. "He's so…cool…He's good at spells, he can do most of them in his head…He told me about how he even invented a few spells, and he says every one of them works, he did them on a bug to show me…He's so great at everything, he's completely in love with me, and I'm completely in love with him…who isn't in love with him?"

"Umm…we're not," said Andrea. "Don't you realize he gave you a Love Potion? When you're in your right mind, you hate him. You're just under the influence of a Love Potion."

"Nonsense!" Meg shouted. "You're just jealous!"

"Why would we be jealous of that?" Hermione said. "Meg, after the potion wears off, you've just got to make sure you don't eat anything Snape gives you. Do you hear me?"

"I don't hear you girls!" said Meg angrily. "Anybody would be jealous of our wonderful relationship, and not to mention it's with the hottest teacher in school! And if you ever try to separate us, you will have both him and me to answer to! I don't want to see your faces here! Go on to your next class and just leave me alone! I'm going to see Severus after school! Get out! _Out_! OUT!"

So the two girls left Meg standing there in the hall, glaring at them, and they set off down the hall to go to Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid. They wondered if Meg Smith's Love Potion was ever going to wear off, because it seemed like it was never going to, and that she would never be her normal self again, the Assistant Defense teacher who didn't like Snape.


	8. The Kiss

That afternoon, after school had let out, Snape was deciding what to wear to the Yule Ball. He had never gone before at his school, when they had parties and things. This was the first time in his life that he had ever attended any parties Hogwarts set up. He decided to wear his new red-and-gold robes. Meg had suggested it, and, after all, Meg was his date for tonight.

He sat down at his desk to try and grade some papers, making sure that he took as many points as he could from Gryffindor, partly because he hated Gryffindor, partly because he had forgotten to take any points from the House in class that morning. Not even when Harry was there.

The thought of the Yule Ball kept on creeping back into his head, though, and he thought about how he was going to be dancing with Meg Smith. And then the horrible thought occurred to him that he didn't know how to dance. Nobody had ever taught him before.

He slammed the papers on his desk in frustration. How was he supposed to dance? He looked at the wall clock. Three hours and forty-five minutes until the Yule Ball…

Snape decided to change into the red-and-gold dress robes, and just copy whatever Meg and other people were doing when he got to the Yule Ball. He was wearing his old black robes that he used to wear before he had bewitched Meg, because he secretly liked them better. No sooner had he slipped his red-and-gold robes over his head, though, when Meg burst in.

He let out a cry of surprise. Meg smiled. "Only me."

"Only you?" said Snape incredulously. "You should knock before you come in! You scared me half to death, Meg!" Then he changed his tone and walked toward Meg. "And if you had scared me all the way to death, you wouldn't have had a date for tonight, would you?"

"Oh, stop it, Severus," said Meg, giggling girlishly. "I haven't even changed yet."

"Haven't you?" said Snape, glad for a reason to look at her whole body, not just her face. "Oh, I think you look good enough in those robes…Do you have different robes, then?"

"Of course," said Meg. "I'm not letting you see them until tonight, Severus. In fact, I'm not going to let anybody see my new dress robes until I go to the Yule Ball with you."

"Why not?"

"Because, silly," said Meg. "They're a surprise. I bought them at Madame Malkin's before I went to Hogwarts to teach, because, you know, you don't know when we'll have a special occasion! Could you imagine what it would be like to have to get new robes now?"

"Oh…" said Snape, remembering that he had just went out and bought his red-and-gold robes the day he had put the Romance Charm on Meg. "Y-yeah, it really would be, I guess, wouldn't it?" He fake-laughed so she wouldn't catch on that he had actually done just that.

Snape looked closer at Meg's laughing face. She had washed her hair, he saw, and put some kind of Curling Charm on it…one spell Snape never thought he would have to use. _Maybe I should wash my hair_, he thought. _Nah…too much of a hassle…I hardly EVER do that_. He looked at Meg, who had gone and sat down, in his desk chair. He walked over to her briskly.

"What are you doing in there?"

"Sitting," said Meg simply. When Snape said nothing, Meg added, "You know, if you want me to keep loving you, you should be less stingy…but, Severus, how could I ever, ever stop loving you if you have such a handsome face…No, I don't think I could."

_Really_? thought Snape. _Nobody ever told me I was handsome before. Oh, well, I didn't know I was so good at Romance Charms…She thinks I'm HANDSOME_…He was even more surprised, though, when he saw that Meg was walking right toward him, putting her arms around him…He put his arms around her, too, and she leaned her face in close to his…_She has good breath mints_, thought Snape…she looked up into his eyes…_She loves me, she really loves me_…thought Snape…

"Now let me show you something you'll love even more than that chair," she told him.

"I don't think I love anything more than you, Meg," said Snape romantically. The truth was, he had no idea he could be so romantic before. "Or anybody, either…"

Snape felt Meg had just put a Romance Charm on him and a very strong one too. They leaned in more closer to each other, Snape and Meg standing there, together, their arms thrown around each other, in Snape's office, until the remaining space between their lips was gone.


	9. The Yule Ball

The sun was setting; three hours later, when it was finally time for the Yule Ball to begin. All the people in Hogwarts were excited to go, as long as they had a date; and most people had arranged dates for the important event. Ron was going with Andrea; Harry, with Hermione; McGonagall, with Dumbledore, and, lastly, Severus Snape was going with Meg Smith.

Harry had picked out his dress robes especially for this occasion, and, even though he thought they weren't really the best, he knew they were better than Ron's were. Ron was trying to cut the lace off the rims of his dress robes, because they were so girly that Harry suspected it might have been designed for a girl. Even though the sleeves on Ron's dress robes looked better after he had cut them, they looked sort of tattered. Harry saw his twin sister looked sort of disgusted when she, Hermione, Harry, and Ron met in the halls next to the room where the Yule Ball was: the Great Hall.

"I hope they have treats," said Ron. "Like Chocolate Frogs, and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and they might even have some Honeydukes chocolate there…"

"Can you ever stop thinking about food, Ron?" said Andrea exasperatedly. "That's all you ever say most of the time. I'm prepared to dance almost all night, Ronald, and we're only stopping for food once or twice in the whole night, unless I get hungry again or something."

"Okay, Andrea, dear," said Ron meekly.

The four of them went into the room where the Yule Ball was. Harry checked out all the people in the room; some were already dancing. He noticed Meg and Snape hadn't arrived yet, and he wondered where they had gotten to. Albus Dumbledore was sitting at a table and eating Chocolate Frogs out of one bowl, with McGonagall sitting next to him, looking annoyed. Lockhart and Trelawney were blabbering to each other like the end of the world was coming. Suddenly, Dumbledore stood up and banged his fist on the table again, with a Chocolate Frog jammed halfway into his mouth.

"And now, the Yule Ball will begin!" he yelled. "Professor Binns, start the music!"

The old History of Magic ghost, who hadn't wanted to go to the Yule Ball (nobody had wanted to go with a ghost anyway), started up the music, which was a slow waltz. Almost everybody in the room started dancing. It was getting enjoyable when the doors banged open.

There stood Severus Snape, wearing those red-and-gold robes of his, and hand-in-hand with his date for tonight, Meg Smith. Lockhart almost fell over in Trelawney's arms when he saw her. Her hair was the same as it always was, albeit fabulous, but what was really riveting about her appearance was her clothes. She had on not her ordinary pink robes she wore everyday, but rose-colored robes with gold lining. It wasn't real gold, of course, but pink fit so well with her hair, and she already looked much, much better than Snape, who was grinning like he was the luckiest man in the world.

"Glad you could join the party!" Dumbledore shouted. "It's Severus and Meg!"

The crowd was made to clap, even though not a lot of them liked Snape much, and the girls were mostly jealous that Meg could steal all their boyfriends at the drop of a hat if she wanted to. Most of them thought Snape had used a Love Potion on Meg, since he was the Potions teacher. Snape had gotten her tested for Love Potions, and she didn't have any, so now they thought they were actually in love, because they just hadn't expected him to use a Romance Charm on her.

The Yule Ball went on for several hours. Every so often, somebody would step on their date's toe by accident (even though rumor had it that Malfoy stepped on Pansy Parkinson's toe just to see what she would do to him). All in all, though, it was good, until it was leaving time.

"Did everybody have a good night?" Dumbledore said. "I know I did!" He looked at McGonagall fondly, and she looked at him back, smiling just as much as he was (a lot).

Snape watched Meg closely. He had promised himself he would take the Romance Charm off her when the Yule Ball was over, but she was so pretty…He looked at her, smiling at him, her arms around his shoulders and his around her waist. He knew what he would have to do.

He swallowed hard and said, "Meg, I love you…goodbye."

"Goodbye?" said Meg, looking up at him, her brown eyes rapidly filling with tears. "You mean, do you have to go, or are you…breaking up with me? Severus, are you?"

"I'm sorry," said Snape, knowing he had never, not once in his whole life, loved somebody just as much as he loved Meg. "This will be our very last night together."

"No," said Meg. "I _love_ you, Severus."

"You don't love me." The words hurt terribly coming out of Snape's mouth. Every word was causing him pain. "You have never loved me. I have simply put a Romance Charm on you because I badly wanted a date for the Yule Ball, and I think I've forgotten…but please, Meg…you have to understand me, I love you like I have never loved anybody before. _Anybody_."

"You didn't put a Romance Charm on me," Meg said, tears streaming down her face. "I'm smarter than that. You're just saying that so I don't get too sad. W-we're over, aren't we."

"We're not over!" Snape yelled. The room went quiet.

"Meg," he whispered. He decided he wasn't going to tell her, he was just going to remove the spell he had put on her, and that would be that. "We're not over."

"Oh, good," said Meg, leaning on him. She raised her voice, and said, "Right now, I have an announcement to make, everyone. I am no longer Meg Smith."

Snape stared at her. What on Earth did she mean?

"I'm afraid I don't quite get your drift," Dumbledore said, who looked as confused as anybody else in the room did. "What do you mean, Meg?"

"Now," said Meg, her grin growing wider with every word, "I am Meg Snape."

"Y-you're Meg Snape?" said Dumbledore, clearly astonished. "Oh…but…but that means you two are…engaged!" Dumbledore's surprised look left him, and a smile took its place. "Oh, Severus, I had no idea! A wedding…gracious, this will be fun!" He clamped Meg and Snape together. "Don't you two worry about a thing! I'll do everything! Just relax, you two…We'll have the wedding one week from now, is that good for you? Good, okay, you two, you'll be fine…"

Meg was smiling, but Snape seemed to have forgotten how to talk. Married? As Meg pulled him into a hug, he looked at her face, which was alight with joy. Just how could he have ever even considered lifting the spell? Yes, he and Meg were going to be married…He turned her to face him and the two of them danced together to their last song for the night.


	10. Harry's Letter

Harry couldn't believe it. He just couldn't believe it, not even for a minute. He knew Snape had to have done something to Meg, but he couldn't think what. He was in his dorm room, lying on his bed, thinking about everything that had happened at the Yule Ball. Snape, marrying Meg…He had talked about it to Andrea, Ron, and Hermione about it for hours on end in the common room until McGonagall came in and told them to shut up and go to bed. They did, but Harry lay awake.

_What if Snape really IS using a Love Potion_? Harry thought. Dumbledore hadn't acted like it; he seemed to think it was natural love, with no spells included…Harry knew better. Maybe he was just using one of those Romance Charms on her. Or maybe…Harry felt like he was slapped in the face. What if Snape was using the Imperius Curse on Meg? He would be sent to Azkaban…

The next morning, Harry woke up out of a fitful sleep. He hadn't fallen asleep until midnight; he had been too absorbed in his thoughts. He didn't want his Potions teacher ever to marry Meg Smith, because they just seemed too unlikely. Harry went over to Hedwig's cage.

He sat down at one of the tables in the common room and wrote:

_Sirius,_

_We had the Yule Ball last night. I went with Hermione, and Ron went with Andrea. Something really weird happened, though. You know Snape, my stupid Potions teacher. Do you remember going to school with this girl named Meg Smith? Well, now she's a teacher at Hogwarts, and Snape's done something to her. They've just announced their ENGAGEMENT. Snape is loopy for her, believe me. I don't know if you've heard of Gilderoy Lockhart, but he likes her too. He thinks he's so cool just because he's totally famous and he has all these books written about him, by him._

_Anyway, Snape probably fed Smith a Love Potion, but he might do the Imperius Curse. You never know with him. Now Dumbledore's setting up their wedding for them. He kept calling them "you two" and saying they didn't have to worry about a thing. I know he thinks Snape didn't do anything, but I know Snape's been giving Meg something. I think they were discussing their engagement while they were supposed to be dancing (because it looked like they were). _

_I don't know why I'm asking you this, but do you know how to get rid of a Love Potion? I don't think we can wait for it to wear off. Dumbledore said the wedding is one week from now. I don't think you should come and watch the wedding, somebody might try and re-arrest you, you know, but I'll tell you about what happened after the wedding is over. Bye, hope you're feeling good._

_Harry_

"Hedwig," said Harry. "Give this letter to Sirius, okay?"

Harry's owl, Hedwig, hooted to say that she would do that, while Harry tied the letter around her leg so she could fly with it. Then he went downstairs for school.


	11. The Next Day

Snape was, if possible, even more loopy in his Potions classes that day. He actually managed to take fifteen points from Slytherin, distracted by his thoughts about Meg and him marrying. Everybody in the classroom seemed to be whispering about him, and he was wondering if he should've given Meg one of his Romance Charms. What if he died, and Meg wondered why she had been married to him for several years when she hated him? What if somebody found out? What if everything went good after their wedding, but he messed up those lines they made you say?

"Hey, you guys," said Snape rather hoarsely when Harry's class arrived. "How about instead of doing anything today, you can go out and…play outside? Have fun!"

Before anybody could say anything, Snape pushed them all out of the room and slammed his head down on his desk. Play outside? Was he going mad? He decided that the answer was yes, since he realized he had been doodling hearts and the letters Meg Snape all over Draco Malfoy's essay. He realized he had been drawing in red pen, and he had been pressing rather hard on the paper. His drawings were visible, and there was no doubt Malfoy would notice them when he got his essay back. Snape threw Malfoy's essay into the fire, and then thought he would just tell him to do it over.

Snape got up and looked out the window. Would he only be insane like this for the one week before his and Meg's wedding, or would he be insane for the rest of his life? He sat down at his desk and was preparing to take twenty points from Gryffindor to get his mind off things, but then he heard somebody knocking on the door to his dungeon classroom, very quickly.

"Come in," he groaned.

It was Albus Dumbledore. The door swung open as he entered, pocketing his wand. Snape figured he must have used the Alohamora Charm, the one that opened doors, including locked ones. Dumbledore smiled at Snape and pulled a chair from one of the tables. "Hello, Severus."

"Hi, Headmaster," said Snape, glad he had thrown Malfoy's paper into the fire. If anything, he definitely didn't want Dumbledore to see he was going insane. He might never see Meg again if he was thrown into the asylum or something. He wanted Dumbledore to think he had everything under control; he had always wanted to make it seem that way to everybody.

"You were hoping it was Meg, weren't you?" said Dumbledore, his smile wider.

"Well…a bit…I guess," Snape finished, holding up somebody's essay. The heat level in the room seemed to be rising, especially in his face. "How many points do you think that I should take off from this essay by Neville Longbottom because he was under the impression that a spoonful of sugar is a proper remedy for rattlesnake poison? Hmm, about twenty, maybe, perhaps thirty…"

"Don't take that many, please," said Dumbledore. "Only about five."

"Oh, more than that, surely," said Snape. "How about…fifteen? Yeah, he'll think he can get away with it if I don't take at least fifteen points from him. Here…wait…"

"Please, don't," said Dumbledore. "Why do you think I came here?"

"Because…I don't know," said Snape. He looked out the window and saw his class, Harry's class, sitting under the shade of trees and talking, or playing games. "If you're wondering, I sent them outside so they could have a day off." This wasn't the true answer, of course; he had just wanted to be alone and didn't think he could manage a class in his 'insane' state. "Oh, now what's Potter doing…?"

Truthfully, 'Potter' wasn't doing anything, just talking with his three best friends under the shade of an especially large tree. Hermione, as usual, had a book in her lap, but she was joining the conversation, too, like she always did. Ron was poking worms in the grass and laughing. Andrea was holding a worm up and examining it, and saying something, probably telling Ron to stop poking them. Ron laughed as a worm squiggled away from him fearfully. Andrea looked at him strangely.

"Harry is not doing anything wrong, Severus," said Dumbledore calmly. "Don't try to take points from him just because you feel like it. It's disrespectful, you know."

"Why did you come here, anyway?" said Snape, to change the subject.

"I wanted to discuss your wedding with you," said Dumbledore. Snape put his head down, again, on his desk, and sighed heavily. He put it up again and looked tired.

"You know, I…I just can't think about that when I have all these papers to grade," Snape told the headmaster, being once again glad he had thrown Malfoy's paper into the fire. He hoped Dumbledore wouldn't see how nervous for the wedding he was. "I have so much work to do without being married. I like Meg, of course, but you know…I'm…I'm just too…well…"

"Say no more," said Dumbledore. "I suppose you don't need to think about it now, Severus, but I really think you should start your planning. It'll be better in the long run."

"Uh-huh…right," said Snape.

"You know, Meg came into my office today," Dumbledore continued. "She loves you with every bit of her heart, Severus. You don't know anything about it."

"What did she say?" said Snape, in spite of himself.

"She said she wanted me to tell you she dreams about you every night," Dumbledore said. "She wanted me to tell you she can't focus on anything anymore, especially when you're together. And, mostly, she wanted me to say…" Dumbledore's voice sounded strangely constricted. "That you'll always have this special place…in her heart…and that your love is the strongest bond two people can have." He sniffed. "It was really nice of her, Severus…her love for you is tremendous."

Snape felt like his throat had clogged up. "I-I love her, too, Headmaster…"

"Of course," said Dumbledore gently, putting his hand on Snape's shoulder. "And that's exactly why you should go and see her, Severus. Come on, follow me…"

They walked slowly down the halls. Snape found himself talking, talking about how he had been going insane. Normally, he explained, hearing that he had a special place in somebody's heart didn't really affect him very much, and even though he knew he had never loved anybody more than Meg, she was really loopy for him, how he was loopy for her. He finally decided he should confess about how he had drawn all over Malfoy's paper and then threw it into the fire right afterwards. He even told a little bit about how he got this strange feeling in his stomach whenever he thought about the wedding.

"About the paper, Severus," said Dumbledore, "you could have used the Scourgify Charm."

"I know, exactly," said Snape. "That's why I'm going mad, you see. Since when have I drawn hearts all over somebody's paper and-and my fiancée's married name on it? I've been wearing those robes, you know, the red-and-gold ones, only for Meg, because I love her."

"You're not going mad," said Dumbledore calmly.

"Then what am I?" said Snape. "Insane? I think so, you know, because I can't get her out of my head, you know, it's like…I was drawing hearts, Headmaster. I've gone mad."

"You just love her, is all," said Dumbledore. "You really love her, as much as she loves you, and that's all it is. You might ask Mr. Malfoy to redo his essay, but I think I have a way of getting it out of the fire, you know? A special Repairing Charm…no harm done, Severus. And anyway, you're probably not used to being in love, since you never have been before. This is all new to you."

Snape chose to say no more; whatever Dumbledore told him, he knew he was going mad.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Meanwhile, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Andrea were sitting outside and talking about the only thing that seemed to really interest them, Margaret and Snape's wedding.

"I can't believe he'd do that to her," said Ron. "I mean, isn't he guilty about it?"

"Oh, of course he's not guilty about it," Harry told them. "He probably just thinks he's really good at stirring up Love Potions. And he's got to be, too. It's lasting so long…"

"I know," said Andrea. "No wonder they made that git our Potions teacher. He actually thinks he can have a good relationship with Winston by giving her a Love Potion. And now she's going to actually marry him…gosh, what a weirdo. I always thought he was really stupid."

"I still think it's a bit romantic," said Hermione. "I don't like Snape, but remember, Harry, in our first year, he was trying to save you when Quirrell was messing up your broom? You told me he said he didn't like you, but he never wanted you to be dead? And now, he's trying to get Winston to like him. I just think if he acted a bit nicer, and washed his hair, and wore better robes…"

"And got a nose job," said Andrea, laughing.

"Yeah, but you're right, Hermione," said Ron, putting his hand on Andrea's shoulder so he would stay upright and not topple onto the floor with laughter. "He should always give us free time, like he did today, and wash his hair, but those red-and-gold robes look ridiculous on him! What's he playing at? I bet he thinks he looks…attractive!" He, Andrea, and Harry collapsed in gales of laughter.

"It's really not funny, you guys," said Hermione, but she was smiling, too.

"Good one about the nose job, Andrea," Harry laughed. "Since when has Snape's nose not been ridiculous, and since when has he washed his hair? You're right, Hermione…"

"I didn't mean it that way," said Hermione, who was also laughing now.

"Then how did you mean it?" said Ron. "You're not saying we should give Snape a makeover or anything, do you? Because I don't think that would be such a good idea, you know?"

"Sounds pretty fun to me," said Andrea, "but I have a better idea."


	12. Wedding Plans

Dumbledore and Snape finally reached Meg's office. Dumbledore made the door open by the same spell he'd used on the door to Snape's office, Alohamora. He found Meg inside, staring dreamily out the window like she did in her Defense classes.

"Hey, Meg," said Snape.

"Oh…Severus…I'm so glad you're here!" cried Meg, grabbing Snape and pulling him into a rib-crashing hug. "How are you doing, handsome?"

"Just fine, now I'm with you," said Snape mysteriously.

"I'll leave you two alone…" said Dumbledore, inching out of the room. "I'll be back in about ten minutes, before your class gets back in, Severus. Goodbye." He shut the door behind him. Snape stood up and slapped himself in the forehead, looking outside anxiously.

"What happened?" asked Meg.

"I forgot to bring my class back inside," said Snape. "You see, I sent them outside so I could see you, and now they're probably wondering where I am…"

"Don't go," said Meg. "You've only just come. Why don't I go outside and round them up with you, sweetheart? See…umm…here. Come outside with me. We can make sure they all get inside. And remember, Dumbledore said we had ten minutes before we had to go get them, so maybe we can sit outside for a while, you know, on a bench or something like that, you know?"

"Umm…yeah…great…a bench," said Snape, knowing where this was going. He certainly liked it when he was kissed by Meg, but still…he didn't like all the students watching him, especially Harry, because he knew they would whisper about him even more afterwards.

"Okay, good, let's go," said Meg, smiling at Snape and going out of the room. Snape followed her, and they went outside. Snape found a white bench and pointed it out to Meg, who agreed that it was a good bench to sit on, so the two of them found a good seat. "I've been waiting for you all day, you know. You're just so handsome, you know, can you wait for the day of our wedding, Severus? I certainly can't…Oh, it's going to be so much fun, and can you imagine us kissing again? That's going to be so wonderful…Do you think I can really wait one week for our wedding?"

"Knowing you, I think you probably can't," said Snape, smiling at Meg. "So, maybe we can go and get your wedding clothes later or something, like at Madam Malkin's."

"Do you think they sell wedding dresses there?" said Meg. "And tuxedos? Oh, you'll look even hotter with a tux on, won't you, Severus? You'll be so adorable, won't you!"

Snape felt strange then. He was torn between his old self, who did not want to look adorable and kept telling him that he wasn't a good match for Meg and that they were too different. The other half of him said that it didn't matter how different they were, as long as they loved each other. Then the other half of him said that she didn't really love him in her deep heart, it was just a Romance Charm, and she absolutely hated him in real life. He knew this was the closest he would ever get to Meg ever really liking him, because he knew secretly that they were just too different for that.

"Severus…" said Meg. "What's wrong? I love you."

"I know you do," said Snape. "Look, Meg, I don't know…I don't…" Snape never got to finish, instantly quieted by Meg's spell. She lifted it, and put her arms around him, pocketing her wand and looking up into his eyes. Snape's strange feeling escalated…

"Meg…there are people," said Snape desperately.

"They don't care," said Meg, putting her lips close to Snape's so that there was only about an inch between them. Snape felt sparks coming out of his wand. He knew that happened when you were really mad, but he hadn't known it happened when you were in love. _Well, I wouldn't_, he thought, as he remembered what Dumbledore had said about love being a whole new thing to him. He turned back to his wife-to-be, who was still talking to him. He didn't dare look directly into those deep brown eyes, lest he fall into them. "I don't care if they see us. Do you care, Sevy?"

_Sevy_._ Sevy, she called me_._ She's never called me by a nickname before_.

"No, Meg," said Snape, getting that feeling like Meg had bewitched him again. "I don't care at all, sweetheart. We can do whatever you want and I won't care…"

"Good," said Meg, leaning even closer (if that was possible) and kissing Snape on the lips. He felt more sparks shooting out of his wand, this time higher in the air. Time seemed to inch by, Snape just wished he had his watch with him, so he could see what time it was, but he didn't. Suddenly, he heard a voice calling him. He pulled away from Meg and saw Dumbledore.

"Severus!"

Snape looked up at the sky. Now I'm in for it, he thought, waiting for Dumbledore's reaction to his kissing of Meg. Dumbledore ran over to him and grabbed his shoulders.

"Oh, Severus, your love for her, her love for you, brings tears to my eyes!" said Dumbledore, who actually did have tears in his eyes. "Did you know your wand was putting up fireworks? That means you really love her, Severus…how sweet…oh, I can't wait till your wedding when you two kiss in front of the whole school! That's going to be so much fun, Severus! Umm, Severus?"

Snape looked at Dumbledore numbly. "Yeah…it'll be great…just great…"

"Okay, then, why don't we go and prepare the wedding tomorrow?" said Meg happily. "You know, it's so exciting that I'm finally going to be married…You're going to kiss me while we're hugging or something, right? Or are you going to, like, sweep me off my feet?"

"I don't know," Snape said quietly. "I really don't know."

Meg skipped ahead of them, with Dumbledore and Snape walking next to each other quite a ways behind her. Dumbledore smiled at Snape as they walked.

"Don't worry," he said. "I'll help you get ready for this. You do have one week, after all."

"I know," said Snape, "but I have to buy a tux, which…can't I just wear my robes? I like them so much better than a suit. That's what Muggles wear! And I have to learn how to really dance, so we can at the reception party, and I have to learn how to kiss…I don't know if I can even lift her enough to sweep her off her feet. Hmmm…I think I might know a spell that does that…"

"I think you kissed her good enough outside today," said Dumbledore. "You've only got to do it standing up, that's all. And I'll get Draco's paper back for you today."

"Thanks, Albus," said Snape weakly, feeling more respect for the headmaster than ever.


	13. Gossip

That night, in their common room, the four Gryffindors were talking nonstop about what their whole school was talking about, Snape and Meg. Hermione had been doing her homework, but she had abandoned it for the conversation she was now avidly joining in. Ron also had his homework out, but he was staring mournfully at it and sighing. Harry had been polishing his Firebolt, and Andrea had just been popping bottle caps on the table, her Firebolt still up in her dorm room.

"Can you believe he really sent us outside today?" said Hermione gently. "I mean, I know he's a jerk, but he doesn't know anything about weddings, he's half out of his mind. We have to be nicer to him than we usually are, you know? And try to do a bit better in his classes."

"So now you're saying he's a nutter and a jerk?" Ron said, grinning.

"I wasn't calling him a nutter," Hermione told him. "I was just talking about, y'know…Have you ever expected him to have a crush on anybody? He has since he was eleven."

"I know, it's stupid," said Harry. "And Hermione, you should be telling Ron do to better in his classes, not me, because I actually got something right yesterday. I don't think he's ever sent a class outside before in his life. Oh, yeah…that was the weirdest thing I ever saw him do."

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Andrea cried excitedly. "I just remembered something I saw you didn't! When you weren't looking, I saw Snape coming out to sit on that white bench, with Smith!"

"Oh my God, what did he do?" Harry said.

"What you think he did, mate," said Andrea, giggling. "He just sat there, and she kissed him! On the lips, can you believe it? His wand was shooting off fireworks, practically."

"You would never expect it, would you?" said Hermione quietly.

Ron was rolling around on the floor and laughing until tears rolled out of his eyes. "Can't you ever get over that, Hermione? It's not romantic! It's Snape! Oh, he's such a weirdo…"

"I'm telling you, his Love Potions are awesome," said Andrea. "If I didn't know better, I'd think he bought them in a store or something, but, no, he made them all by himself. Like I said before, though, you can't mix up love in a cauldron. Snape obviously thinks you can…"

"I still don't know what he's playing at," Harry agreed. "Hermione, nobody in this whole school thinks it's romantic except for you. Remember, it's Snape, you know."

"Not exactly, Dumbledore does," Hermione protested. "He's the one who's arranging the whole wedding in the first place, you know, he thinks Smith really likes Snape, that it's not a Love Potion. He's going to make everything absolutely perfect for Snape and Smith."

"Perfect…hah!" Ron sniggered, finally managing to sit up on the Gryffindor rug.


	14. Tears

Next afternoon in class, Snape sent his students outside again. This time, though, he really wasn't planning on spending all his time thinking about Meg. Instead, he was going to do something actually productive with his time: he was making something for himself.

It was this potion he knew about, a Calming Drought, very similar to a Sleeping Potion, actually making you more composed and relaxed when you ate a spoonful. Snape thought he would eat some of it whenever he was going to see Meg, and before his wedding. He was shoving ingredients together out of his storage closet and making sure he had everything necessary.

He was halfway through, however, when who should come into his office but Meg Smith herself. Snape did a double take and spilled his half-done potion all over himself. Meg laughed a laugh that was extremely princess-y and took out her wand. She waved it, and said, "See, Severus, I can simply just use the Scourgify Charm on it, and…see! It's gone!"

Snape said nothing.

"What's the matter, sweetheart?" said Meg, coming over to Snape and sharing his chair. She kissed him on the cheek. He didn't respond. "You okay, Sev?"

"No," said Snape softly. "You see, I was halfway through this and I spilled it."

"Severus, you're worrying me," said Meg, and Snape was surprised to see tears leaking out of her brown eyes. "You haven't been talking, you know, and every time I try to talk to you you're always busy, and whenever I try to hug you, you pull away. Are we…over?"

"I'm sorry that I haven't been paying enough attention to you, I really am," said Snape, his voice cracking as he spoke the words he knew were true. Meg did still have feelings besides love, when she was under the influence of a Romance Charm, and Snape had totally forgotten this about her. "There's no use crying over spilled potion, Meg, literally this time."

"I know there's not," said Meg sadly. "We just need to spend more time together."

"We will, we will," said Snape, knowing that this time, Meg shouldn't have kissed him, but he should have kissed her. So he touched her shoulders and knew that more sparks were coming out of his wand as he did. He didn't really know what to do, he discovered, so he just sort of put his hands down and squirmed uncomfortably in the chair he was sharing with Meg.

"I really love you, Sev, I really do," Meg said softly.

Snape was tempted to say_, No, you DON'T love me at all, I just put you under a Romance Charm and you THINK you love me, but you don't_. He knew it would be no use, though, so he just nodded and looked at his shoes. He felt Meg on his shoulder. She was crying.

"You don't like me anymore," she sobbed. "I still love you, but if that's how you want it, I'm not going to bother you with my presence any longer." She left the room.

Snape ran out of his room after her. He wanted to call after her, to tell her that he didn't hate her, he was just being a jerk and he would stop it. Meg's figure had disappeared down the corridor by then, though, so Snape went down the corridor to Dumbledore's office. He didn't know if their wedding was still on, but he thought Dumbledore might know what to do right now.

"Lemon Drop," said Snape to the gargoyle outside Dumbledore's office. When the gargoyle moved, he ran as fast as he could up the stairs and remembered to knock.

"Come in," came Dumbledore's voice from inside.

"Headmaster…Albus…" Snape discovered he was out of breath. "I think my wedding's off."

"Why is it off, Severus?" said Dumbledore calmly. Snape could see, as he shut the door behind him, that Dumbledore had been reading some kind of parchment.

"Because…well…" Snape tried to describe it. "She came into my office…and, I don't know, I don't even know what I did that was so wrong, but soon enough she was saying that I hated her and she still loved me, and she left my office." Snape felt his voice break.

"You have no idea what you did wrong whatsoever, Severus?" said Dumbledore gently. "What exactly did you say to her? She has to have left for a reason."

"I didn't really say much at all," said Snape. "I said, 'no use crying over spilled potion,' because I was making something…and I spilled it…and she cleaned it up. And so she said we needed to spend more time together, and I said we would…and…and…then I…"

"Go on," said Dumbledore, his tone difficult to decipher.

"And I almost kissed her," said Snape abruptly. "I didn't, though…I-I couldn't…and then she just said she loved me a whole lot, and I nodded, and she started crying…" He made his tone sharper. "You hear me, she just left my office without barely another word."

"Difficult," said Dumbledore. "See, you have to talk constantly. She's been more emotional lately, you know, Meg has, you just have to be nice to her. All the time."

"I am nice to her," said Snape, rather indignantly.

"I mean extra-nice," said Dumbledore. "She's been to my office a lot. Severus, you're not the only one who's getting stress because you're getting married. She's been setting up most of the wedding for you, she's almost slaving for you…It's amazing how strong her love is."

"Just tell me how to get her back," said Snape desperately.

"Go and talk to her," said Dumbledore wisely. "It's not your fault, she's just having as much stress as you are on this whole wedding thing, I know she'll appreciate…"

Snape interrupted him. "I still can't kiss right, I mean, I'm not physically able…"

Now it was Dumbledore's turn to interrupt Snape. "You don't need to kiss her, Severus. If you just tell her how much you love her, she'll probably kiss you."

"Okay, Albus," said Snape, once again overwhelmingly grateful. "Thanks a million."

Dumbledore nodded and smiled good-naturedly before he went back to the papers he had been reading before Snape had come into his office. "Don't mention it."


	15. Pranksters

Once again, night came. Hermione and Andrea had come into Harry and Ron's dorm room early so the four of them could sit and just talk in private while the rest of the Gryffindors were still back in their common room. The whole thing had been Andrea's idea.

"Hey, guys?" said Andrea. "Remember yesterday, where Snape sent us outside? Ron, you said you thought giving Snape a makeover would be a bad idea, and then I said it was a good idea, but I had a better one? Well, I forgot to tell you that idea. Know what it is?"

"What?" said Ron interestedly.

"I thought we could prank-call Snape," said Andrea, giggling. "We can tell him he ordered a super nose job…and soon…we'll be arriving in his room…to give it to him…at three AM…" Andrea's voice broke with laughter as she fell back onto Neville's bed. "Isn't it…great?"

"Andrea, I never thought I'd say this, but you rule," Harry said, gaping at Andrea.

Hermione was also giggling slightly. "Umm, guys, if we come into his room at three AM, he'll probably still be asleep, and…he'll probably only be wearing…like…"

"Gross, I _totally_ see your point," said Andrea, her face contorted with a strange mixture of disgust and amusement. "Did you really think we were going to go into his room, Hermione? We'll just tell him we are, and have him on his guard, and he'll be all tired, and it will be funny."

Ron sniggered. "Yeah, I bet that'll really freak him out…"

"Yeah, if he finds out it was us, we'll really be busted," Harry said. "I don't care, though, he won't ever find out…Andrea, do the voice you're going to do on the phone."

Andrea, who already had a spectacular voice for radio, made her voice higher and more girlish, sort of like Barbie's, and said, "Hello. You have ordered a nose job."

"That's great!" Harry laughed. "Andrea, you are the ultimate prankster…"

"I know," said Andrea, beaming. "See, I've been working on it. If you want to, we can call him later tonight. He'll probably be wondering who ordered him a nose job."

"Oh, that's not nice," said Hermione, also smiling. "He didn't send us outside because he had a nose job…but let's do it anyway, it's probably going to be really fun."

"Of course it is," said Harry. "There's just one problem, though. How are we going to get Snape's phone number? There's no way we'll be able to do that, you know, Andrea."

"I thought of that," said Andrea, grinning. "Remember how at the end of every year, they give us this book with everybody's home phone numbers in it? Well, they also give you all the teachers' phone numbers, so if the parents want to complain or something, they can do that."

"Wow," said Ron. "You're so smart, Andrea…"

"I know," said Andrea. She looked at Ron, and added, "No, we can't French-kiss here, Ron, it'll be rude to Harry and Hermione. I'll French-kiss you later, when I've got time."

"Okay, Andrea," said Ron.

"That's settled, then," Andrea told her friends. "I have that book, so I'm going to get it, and look up Snape. And then, tomorrow…" (she lowered her voice to a whisper) "we call."


	16. The Crying Hex

That next day, a Saturday, Meg was still sitting in her office and being miserable. She was looking at all her pictures of Snape. Even when she saw his portrait's face scowling at her, it only made her miss him more, because the real Snape wasn't angry all the time, thought Meg.

_He hates me, though_…_Why am I living in the past_? _Just forget him, Meg_…

Just then, the door banged open. It was Snape, standing there in his red-and-gold robes, looking rather paler than usual. "Meg, I'm sorry, I don't hate you, I love you."

"No, you don't," said Meg. "Who told you to say that?"

"I came up with it by myself," Snape snapped, even though that was technically a lie. And then, he remembered what Dumbledore had told him. He made his voice nicer. "I'm really sorry. I still want our wedding to be on…Oh, Meg, don't be difficult, everything's ruined!"

"What do you mean?" asked Meg softly. "How is everything ruined?"

"You!" cried Snape. "This wasn't supposed to happen! You weren't supposed to think I hated you, something went wrong! I think I love you much more than I should…"

"Severus, what's the matter?" Meg said. "Just why shouldn't you love me?"

"I don't know," said Snape. He was getting that feeling again, that one that Meg had put him under another Romance Charm. Next thing he knew, he and Meg were hugging each other, Meg was crying again, Snape felt tears in his eyes and knew, strange as it was, that he was almost crying, too.

"It's not happy anymore," Meg told him, tears running down her face. "We just used to be so happy together…Now you do everything wrong and then everything right."

"I don't think this is enough," said Snape, trying to stop his own eyes watering. "I love you, I just never thought I could love somebody this much without being bewitched…Every time I see your face, I'm thinking of…all the good times we had together…of how much I love you."

Meg was crying harder. Snape thought he'd said something wrong. He took her hand and got her up from the chair they were at. "Come on, you need the hospital wing."

She followed him numbly out of her office, her tears coming in buckets that she simply couldn't stop, no matter how hard she tried. She conjured up a tissue to blow her nose on, but as soon as she had banished her used tissue, she started crying again, just as hard as before.

Snape didn't talk to her all the way down to the hospital wing. He thought there was some kind of hex that made you cry and not be able to stop, but then again, Meg might just be having a really hard day today. Either way, Snape thought Madame Pomfrey would know what to do about it. If she didn't have any hexes on her, maybe she could give her a Calming Drought or something.

They reached the doors of the hospital wing. Snape held the door open for Meg. He led her over to the office of Madame Pomfrey, who was reading. She looked up as they came in. "Snape, what are you doing with Meg?" She turned and addressed Meg. "Oh, you come here, sweetheart, what did he do to you? Don't worry…" She turned to Snape. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything, Pomfrey," Snape said harshly. "I'm engaged with her, you must know that, I think she has some sort of hex on her, I said I loved her and she's hysterical."

Madame Pomfrey pulled out her wand and tapped Meg once with it. Nothing happened, when she did, and Meg just kept on crying. Madame Pomfrey nodded slowly. "You're right, Snape, she's hysterical, but there's no hexes on her. Poor thing, I wonder why she's so upset…"

"You should give her a Calming Drought," said Snape, his worry increasing.

"Know what, Snape?" said Madame Pomfrey. "For once, you've had a good idea. Here, help me get her into a bed…Argh, Snape, what did you just do? Magic her into a bed!"

"Oh yeah, okay then," said Snape, who had been trying to help sobbing Meg stand up. "Right, how about I'll just put her into that bed, that one looks comfy…" He took out his wand.

"No!" Madame Pomfrey shouted. "I'll do it."

She muttered something, her wand pointed toward Meg, and Meg flew into a bed, her tears stopped for a moment, so she managed to speak. "Severus!"

Snape ran over to the side of her bed. "Meg, are you alright?"

"Yes, I am," said Meg, and Snape was relieved to see that her tears had stopped. "Sorry about that, you know, it's just that you're so…good to me, you know? I used to be happy, now I'm sad, and then I just randomly got happy again. Sorry if I caused you trouble."

"You didn't," said Snape. "Today I can spend as much time as I want with you, because I don't have any classes today, obviously." Snape paused. "That reminds me. Why aren't you helping Lockhart with your Defense classes anymore? You were the better teacher."

"Well…" said Meg, her cheeks turning slightly pink, "if you want the truth, they fired me out of the job because I couldn't stop thinking about you. I just kept on staring out of the window and thinking about you. Lockhart said I wasn't being a very good assistant."

"You were an excellent assistant to Lockhart in there, Meg, and I really mean it," said Snape, smoothing Meg's hair. "You used to teach the class."

"Well, that's true," said Meg. "See, this is exactly what I was talking about. You're always so sweet, you know, you make me feel…warmish inside, you know?" She sat up more in bed, pulled Snape's hands so he would sit on the bed, and moved closer to him, so their noses were three inches apart. "Like I just drank a cup of hot chocolate…the heat spreading to my toes…"

"Good feeling," said Snape, glad that for once, when Meg was about to kiss him, he didn't feel all queasy inside, more like he had just drank hot chocolate, just like Meg had described. "Very good feeling. Come on…" He heard himself talk. "Kiss me."

"That's what I'm doing," Meg whispered. And she did.

They were still kissing each other when Snape heard Madame Pomfrey's voice. "I'M COMING IN THERE RIGHT NOW, SNAPE, YOU'D BETTER BE FAR AWAY FROM THAT BED OF HERS! IF YOU'RE IN IT, I SWEAR I WILL SKIN YOU ALIVE!"

Snape pulled away from Meg. "YOU SHUT YOUR PIEHOLE, LADY!"

Meg was no longer sitting up straight. Her head was in her hands and she was giggling. She lifted her head long enough to talk. "Really, Madame Pomfrey."

As if on cue, Madame Pomfrey burst into the room. It was a sight: Meg, completely out of bed and free of the covers, giggling again; Snape lying back on her bed, over the bedclothes, hands behind his head, also smiling; Madame Pomfrey looking extremely angry. She walked over to Snape and pulled out her wand. She pointed it at his face, but she didn't say anything.

"You speak to me respectfully!" she yelled. "Out of here, Snape! Out!"

Snape left the hospital wing without so much as a word of argument of being kicked out. He shut the door behind him with a hasty 'goodbye' to Meg Smith and a rather loud bang, but not before he heard Madame Pomfrey say to Meg, "What do you see in that man?"

"I don't know," Meg said, "but it's definitely something good."


	17. The Prank Call

It was Sunday afternoon. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Andrea had completely forgotten about their prank call to Snape that they has been planning on Friday night, and they hadn't done it on Saturday, either, so they wanted to do it on Sunday afternoon instead. Andrea had looked up the phone number of Snape in the address book and was now calling him, trying to suppress laughter.

"Hello?" Snape said at the other end of the line. He sounded strangely happy.

"This is the Official Nose Job Hotline, ma'am," said Andrea, encouraged more than ever by fresh sniggers from Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "You have ordered a nose job. We are coming into your room tomorrow at three AM to give you a nose job. Nobody can deny you need it."

Snape's happiness of Meg liking him (even if it was only a Romance Charm) evaporated like the way air comes out of a balloon. When had he ordered a nose job? That was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard. He hadn't ordered a nose job, and he didn't need a nose job, either!

"May I ask who you are?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Why, I told you," said Andrea. "I'm from the ONJH, and you've ordered a nose job. We always fill out people's orders. Nose jobs don't show up on your phone bill."

"I DID NOT ORDER A NOSE JOB!" Snape yelled. The other people in the Hog's Head (that was where he was, he was getting some firewhisky) jumped and looked at him weirdly. A random person sitting in the back yelled at him, "You look like you need one, dude!"

"Yeah, and I'll give you one for free if you don't shut your mouth now," said Snape, pulling out his wand and glaring at the talker.

Andrea had heard Snape yelling, of course, because he had been originally talking to her, but she could also hear what was going on in the Hog's Head. Now, she was trying to stop sniggering, but it wasn't working very well. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were laughing their heads off under a Silencing Charm put on them by Hermione. Andrea had put her knuckles in her mouth so Snape couldn't hear her laughter. She spoke into the mouthpiece again, trying to control herself, which was hard.

"Please, ma'am, nobody is listening in on our conversation," she said. "I expect you just need a bit of time to, oh, I don't know…get a nose job? We'll be in at three AM. Bye, ma'am."

Hermione used the nonverbal spell to lift the Silencing Charm. She looked around at her friends, and they looked around at her. A few seconds later, they were laughing uncontrollably, half-amused, but also just glad that they were all friends, sharing happy times and laughing their heads off.


	18. It's Not Real Love

As soon as the caller had hung up, Snape stomped out of the Hog's Head and Apparated all the way back to Hogwarts. He was getting a bit worried about Meg. He hadn't known Romance Charms had side effects, but he wanted to ask Dumbledore, who would probably know, what they could do to you if you weren't careful. Maybe that was why she was so upset earlier that day.

"Hello, Severus," said Dumbledore, when Snape walked in.

"Hey, Albus," said Snape. "Okay…I just wanted to ask you something. Have you ever heard of this thing called a Romance Charm? Because I have, and I was just wondering…"

"Yes, I have," said Dumbledore. "They almost have the same effects of a Love Potion. They never wear off, though. The only way you can get rid of a Romance Charm is if the caster lifts it, or dies, or, on rare occasions, if the receiver of the Charm sees her true love's face, the spell will be lifted. Love Potions, however, only last for three days maximum and they are banned at Hogwarts, too. When most people want somebody to love them, they usually just choose the Romance Charm."

"What are the side effects of it?" said Snape, who already knew all of what Dumbledore said.

"If the receiver wasn't hit hard enough by the spell," said Dumbledore, "they can flicker between love and indifference, but if they were hit too hard, it can lead to an obsession. The receivers sometimes are happy, then sad, then happy again, especially teenagers, but only if they're under a lot of stress…It's a very manipulative spell that can just make you act like you normally wouldn't."

"Thanks, Albus…" said Snape. "Also, you know my wedding's in three days."

"Of course I do," said Dumbledore. "Meg was in here yesterday. She says she can't wait for the wedding, and that you really are a great kisser, no matter what you say."

"Did she?" said Snape quietly.

"Yes, she did," said Dumbledore, smiling. "You're very lucky to have somebody like her loving you that much, Severus. She didn't even care she was fired from her job because she couldn't stop thinking about you and wasn't being a good teacher…I mean, good assistant, actually."

Snape just couldn't speak. It was a Romance Charm. WHY am I so guilty about what I did? She's much happier this way…isn't she? And I'M happier. I'll probably live longer.

"Severus?" said Dumbledore softly.

"I'm okay," Snape told him. "I've got to go, though…Need to see Meg…Bye, I'll be seeing you around, Albus…now I've got to go to Meg's office, right now…"

Snape ran to Meg's office, so hurried he forgot to just Apparate there. He banged the door open as soon as he got to it. Meg was at her desk. She looked up at Snape as he walked in. She got up and walked very close to him. She tossed her hair and laughed happily.

"Severus!" she said. "Oh, I just can't wait! Three days until our wedding!"

"I know, only three," said Snape, feeling slightly queasy again, and throwing his arms around his fiancée, who hugged him tight and kissed him passionately on his cheek.

"I love you," she whispered.

"Me too," said Snape, putting his cheek beside Meg's. _I have to lift the Charm NOW_…_I can't, though_…_I'm going to miss her so much_…_Nothing will ever be the same_…

"Severus, are you all right?" said Meg.

"I'm okay," said Snape, who wasn't okay, his throat constricted by emotion. "I love you…It's all over now…Just kiss me one more time before you start hating me again…"

"What are you talking about, Severus?" said Meg. "I'll never hate you. I can't."

"You think so?" said Snape, now knowing that these would be the last words he said to Meg before he lifted the Charm, if he was able to talk enough to say the incantation. "You have to listen. You don't really love me; you hate me like you always did. Don't deny it."

"Stop talking nonsense," said Meg, rather sharply, looking up into Snape's eyes. "Are you sure you haven't gone mad? I love you, Severus. I don't hate you at all."

"I can't stay here," said Snape. "I'm so sorry…but you don't understand, you can't. I can't make you believe me. Nobody can do that but you. And if you don't want to believe me, I can't take it how you love me, it's too much to handle, I want to marry you but you don't want to marry me. I'm always so guilty when you're holding me, when we're together, I just can't take it anymore!"

"Don't leave!" said Meg. She wasn't crying; she actually looked angry. "I promise to believe you if you'll just, for once, tell me exactly what you're talking about!"

"I tried to tell you before," said Snape. "It's…it's a Romance Charm."

"Stop lying!" Meg exclaimed, her angry expression leaving her face, replaced by an utterly nonplussed kind of look. "Why are you lying? Tell me what it really is."

"That's exactly it, see?" Snape almost yelled at her. "You'll never believe me, never. All of these times where I've tried to tell you, you won't ever listen to what I'm saying."

"I don't believe it," said Meg simply.

"Well, then, I'm lying," Snape told her. "I guess you'll never believe me. Then I'll have to just act like you really love me and it's not a Charm…but I'm all right with that, I guess." He hugged Meg and they just held each other, lips not touching, tears coming out of Meg's eyes and soaking Snape's robes, which were black again, not red-and-gold. Finally, she pulled away from him.

"Have you stopped loving me?" Meg said after a long silence.

"I haven't," said Snape, knowing it was true. "I love you like I've never loved anybody before in my life, and our wedding's in three days. I have a question for you, too."

"What is it?" said Meg, all trace of her tears gone, replaced by curiosity.

"I'm just wondering, who was that guy you were talking about to Dobby? You said you've always liked him, and when you asked him out he said no, he didn't want a girlfriend because he was too busy with trying to stay out of trouble…You said nobody knew where he was."

Meg's face looked confused. "He doesn't matter now. He won't be coming to our wedding. I don't care about him with you around. I think you're a lot better than he is. You hardly ever get into any trouble, and you never did when we were going to school together, either. He's just always trying to stay out of trouble, even now…I really think you're right to hate him, you know."

"H-hate him?" said Snape, taken by surprise. "I _know_ him?"

"Yes," said Meg mysteriously. "You went to school with him. Even today you two dreadfully hate each other. I'll definitely tell you who he is someday, but for now, he doesn't matter anymore. I just love _you_." And she kissed him on the lips again, eyes closed, happy once more.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

That night was extremely fun in the Gryffindor common room. Fred and George Weasley had brought in some pizza, drinks, and dessert with no apparent reason until Andrea asked them. They said it was because they had finally gotten their joke shop started. Andrea laughed.

"I'm sure glad," she told them. "This food is delicious."

"Yeah, it is," said Ron, chomping off a huge bite of pizza and stuffing his mouth with it. After that, he swallowed tremendously and then spoke. "Where did you get all this good food, anyway? I bet you got it from the house-elves down in the Hogwarts kitchen, didn't you, guys?"

"Yeah, they don't give it to you easily," said Fred.

"They do too," said Hermione. "We've been down there a few times. You know, you shouldn't have taken advantage of them like that, the poor little slaves…"

"They like working for us, Hermione," said Harry. "As soon as somebody enters the kitchen, they run up to you with platters of food before you even have to ask."

"Well…that's what they've been trained to do," said Hermione. "What if they don't like it? What if they're just doing that because they think we'll be mean to them or something if they don't? Those poor little house-elves don't even get paid, they just slave away, always…"

"Hermione," said Ron. "Dumbledore offered to give Dobby a day off every other day and paying with ten Galleons per day, but he refused it. They're not treated badly."

"Yes, well, I still think they'd be better off if they could just be free altogether," Hermione told her friends, taking a sip of soda. "Maybe they're pretending to like working."

"You're obsessed with house-elves," said Ron, but only so Harry could hear it.

Andrea sat down in one of the puffy common room chairs and took another bite of pizza. "I'm just glad the house-elves give us all this food. Like I said before, it's excellent."


	19. The Date in Hogsmeade

That Monday, after school, Snape wanted to show Meg that, however he was sure she didn't love him, that he loved her, so they went to Hogsmeade. Meg wanted to go to the Three Broomsticks, where they could get a butterbeer. Snape nodded and they left for the town.

"It's such a pretty day out," said Meg, her arm linked with Snape's.

"It is," Snape agreed with her. "I always liked this kind of weather, but, you know, I like it when it rains out, too, don't you? You know, people say…it, like, speaks to you…" Snape was sure he had never heard the rain speaking, but Meg would probably like anything so poetic.

"Oh, yes, dreamy, isn't it?" said Meg.

"Yes, and so are you, Meg," said Snape, surprised at himself. Wasn't claiming that the rain spoke to him enough? Did he really just have to call Meg Smith dreamy?

"Oh, stop it," said Meg, grinning. "You might be dreamy, but I'm just flirting."

Snape shrugged. "Oh…in that case…we should go get our butterbeer now, the Three Broomsticks is just up ahead. Let's see…Zonko's, the joke shop, Honeydukes, the candy shop…"

"Oh, let's go there," said Meg. "I've been dying for some Honeydukes chocolate."

"If you want to," said Snape. They walked into Honeydukes, the sweet smell of all the delicious chocolates filling their noses and making them hungry. Snape walked up to the counter and said, "Two bars of your special Honeydukes chocolate, please…and, yeah, that'll be all, thank you."

The two of them thanked the cashier again, paid for their candy, and walked out, eating their bars of chocolate on the way to the Three Broomsticks. They didn't have very much to talk about, so it was just lucky they had chocolate to preoccupy them. Finally, they reached their destination.

"What will it be, you two?" said the waiter.

"One butterbeer, please," said Meg, handing her money to the cashier. He went and got one butterbeer that looked positively delicious. He handed it to Meg. "Anything else?"

"Nope, that would be all, then, thank you," said Meg, as the cashier took her money and put it in the cash register. She picked up the butterbeer and went to go and pick out a table.

"Aren't you getting one?" Snape asked her, holding onto her sleeve.

"Of course I'm getting one," said Meg. "I love butterbeer. That's the whole reason I wanted to go to the Three Broomsticks, besides you. Why are you asking me that, anyway?"

"Then I'm not getting one?" said Snape rather indignantly.

"Where were you when they handed out the brains?" Meg laughed. "We're just going to be sharing one, silly. Oh, yeah, that reminds me, I'd better ask the cashier for two straws…"

"Isn't that…dirty?" Snape asked her.

"No," said Meg. "Haven't you ever seen any romance movies? Oh, yeah, I forgot…you don't have any Muggle friends, do you? Because mine has a TV, so I love romance movies."

"What are movies?" said Snape. "Something Muggle, I think? Isn't it like a microwave?"

"No, it's people pretending to be other people on a screen or something. You buy a little black case called a video, and you put it in a little slot in the TV, and they show people on it."

"Romance movies, as in…?"

"People pretending like they're in love, with a plot," said Meg. "They almost always break up and then get together again. There was actually this movie about a real witch who met a Muggle and when she told him she was a witch he got afraid of her and they broke up. It was actually good."

"DRINK!" called the cashier. "TWO STRAWS, PLEASE!"

"That'd be us." Meg grinned, and she walked over to the cashier, who handed her two straws and one butterbeer. She thanked him and they took their drink to a table.

Meg put her straw in and sipped some of her drink. Snape raised his eyebrows at her. She just smiled and gestured to the butterbeer, meaning Snape should drink some too.

"No thanks, I'll pass," said Snape. At the imploring look on her face, he added, "Oh, all right, but the only thing I'm doing is seeing if it's good." He took a sip of delicious butterbeer. "All right, it's great, I guess we can have some together." He sipped at the same time as Meg did.

"You know," said Meg, "this butterbeer is excellent."

"I know, never tasted so good," Snape said. Secretly, he suspected he liked butterbeer more if he was sharing it with Meg, but he wasn't about to tell her that. "I never liked butterbeer much, but I think they're making it especially good today, don't you think they are?"

"Certainly." Meg laughed. "Maybe because we're sharing one."

After they had finished the butterbeer, they walked out of the Three Broomsticks. Rain was now softly falling on the street. Meg nudged Snape and conjured an umbrella.

"Can't you hear it speaking to you now?" she asked him, putting the umbrella over their heads, as the rain fell steadily harder. "I thought you might. It's been really fun here."

"I've been thinking," said Snape. "I admit, it's a bit off-subject, but our wedding's in only two days, and we're not nearly ready for it. I mean, we've been on plenty of dates together, but soon we'll be legally married to each other, and, you know, decorations might be hard to…"

Meg cut him off. "Severus, I totally understand you. We have to get a cake, and my dress, and your tuxedo, we talked about it, remember? I think Grandpa's going to help."

"Who's Grandpa?" said Snape, utterly nonplussed.

"Oh, I forgot, you didn't know," said Meg. "Severus, Grandpa is actually Dumbledore. He's my grandfather, you see. That's partly why he let me work here, you know."

"You're Albus Dumbledore's granddaughter?" said Snape. "He's married?"

"Right," said Meg. "His daughter is my mother. You know, Michelle Dumbledore, she's my mum, and her mum is Janie Lewis, my grandmother. My dad's Dallas Smith."

"Oh," said Snape, rather lamely.

"Anyway, it feels so weird, calling him 'Dumbledore' and not Grandpa," said Meg. "He's the one who was the most excited about our wedding. He wants to help us the most."

"I know, he does," Snape agreed. "Anyway, it was nice of him to set the wedding up for us, or be trying to, I've got to admit. We need so many things. Like, you said, a cake…"

"The most important thing we need is love. We've got that," Meg said, rather sharply.

"You're right," said Snape, looking down at the ground, finding the truth in Meg's words. "If you didn't love me, you would never marry me. And the same with me, although I couldn't imagine any scene in which I didn't love you. Well…unless I was bewitched or something…but that doesn't count. Do you think Albus is going to be able to set up our wedding in time for Wednesday?"

"Oh, yeah, our wedding's on Wednesday!" Meg said. "I should've known that. Anyway, in answer to your question, yeah, I think Grandpa's going to be able to finish our wedding in time. He's good at magic, you know." She paused and smiled. "Almost as good at magic as you are."

"Oh, stop it, you know he's as good as magic as I am, even better," protested Snape

"I told you before," said Meg, laughing, "I'm just flirting. You're the most gullible person I ever met, you know, it's true. Come on, let's just have a walk around this town, shall we?"

XOXOXOXOXOXO

Meanwhile, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Andrea were sitting out by the lake and watching the giant squid slosh around. They were certainly enjoying Snape's classes, since they never had homework, and just got to sit outside and do whatever they wanted for forty minutes. Lockhart's classes, though, without the exciting animals and things that Meg brought in, were horribly boring. He had them listen, again and again, to his stupid exploits. Some people, like Ron, even skived off sometimes.

"Snape's classes are almost like recess was, at my old Muggle school," said Hermione. "When I was younger I went to a Muggle school. Recess was this thing where they made you go outside for forty minutes and do whatever you wanted, as long as you could definitely do it outside."

"They made you go outside, even when it rained?" said Andrea incredulously.

"No, not when it rained," said Hermione. "Then they gave us indoor recess. Harry, when you were younger, you went to a Muggle school, too, didn't you? You had recess?"

"Yeah, I had recess," said Harry. "I hated it, though. Dudley always made sure I never had any friends, and I never had anybody to play with at recess. You, Hermione?"

"Well…not me, either, really," said Hermione, laughing. "Everybody thought I was such a stupid know-it-all, teacher's pet, that sort of thing, but recess paid off because I did homework then." Hermione laughed again. "I'd much rather go to Hogwarts than a Muggle school."

"Me too," said Andrea. "I grew up with a wizarding family, see. They're really nice. I write letters to them, and I stay with them during the summer holidays, except when I go to Ron's house. That's partly why I'm so good at Quidditch, you know, my brothers taught me how to play. I was the only girl in my family besides my stepmum. Most of the time I played Keeper or Chaser. We used apples or oranges or something like that, like we do when we play Quidditch at your house, Ron."

"I was never that good, was I?" said Ron, grinning. "You, on the other hand…"

"What about me?" said Harry, also laughing. "I'm a good Quidditch player, and, unlike Andrea, I didn't even know what Quidditch was before I came to Hogwarts."

"Well, that is true," said Hermione; she and her three friends lay back on the grass, laughing, and enjoyed the glorious sunshine before they had to go back inside the school.


	20. From Meg to Potions Class

Snape and Meg had finally gotten back from Hogsmeade. The sun was now setting; anybody would have classified this as "romantic." They weren't on a hillside or anything, but in Snape's office, in which there was what might have been Snape's first kiss. The mood was good; Snape had managed to get rid of his guilt for the time being. Meg was snuggling him affectionately.

"Nice sunset, isn't it?" said Snape unnecessarily.

"Really nice," said Meg. "Today's Monday, too. So tomorrow's Tuesday, obviously, and after that's our wedding, on Wednesday. And Grandpa's out getting my dress, he said. And he's also getting a suit for you. You'll just look so sweet, won't you, it'll go great with your hair. That reminds me, we've got to get you a haircut…When was the last time you washed your hair, anyway?"

"Oh…I don't know," said Snape, heat creeping up his face.

"Who cares?" laughed Meg. "I like it how it is. Maybe you should wash it anyway, though, since there are a lot of people coming to our wedding that don't like your hairstyle. Why don't we go to a hair salon, and we can trim your ends, too, you have split ends…It'll be so fun!"

"Oh, yeah, fun…" said Snape, suddenly imagining, for some reason, a Ministry of Magic official standing above him, cutting off his hair and eventually leaving him bald. "You know, Meg, as long as I still look like myself when I'm done…You know, the day's almost over now."

"Do you want to look like yourself, Severus?" said Meg. "I want you to, because you're so incredibly handsome and all, but that's not really the reason I fell for you."

"What was it, then?"

Meg sighed dreamily. "It was…it was…just something about you. I know I didn't always like you. I think I once hated you. I vaguely remember…but I suddenly couldn't stop thinking about you. You do everything so…so right. Just a tap of your wand and everything's fine."

_No, Meg, everything's NOT fine_, thought Snape, guilt erupting in him again, but he shook it off, determined to enjoy Meg's happiness, too. "Well…I suppose…"

Meg whipped out her wand and broke something. "Fix it, Severus."

"I-I didn't…This is my office!" Snape yelled at her. At the expression on Meg's face, he went quiet again. "I'm sorry, Meg. Okay, I'll fix it." He, also, took out his wand. He said the incantation for the Repairing Charm in his head, and the empty jar that had broken repaired itself.

"Oh, Severus, see what I mean?" said Meg. "You don't even need to say it out loud."

"Well…it's fairly easy…can't you?" asked Snape, amazed. "Anyway…look, it's getting dark out, so maybe I should go." It was true. The sun had set on the two of them.

"All right, Severus." Meg smiled and waved as he walked away.

The next day in class, Snape didn't want to have anything to do with Harry and his friends, but he wasn't going to make them think his class was almost like recess was in Muggle schools. So, when Harry's class came in, he told himself, _Get a grip on yourself, Severus_._ Teach your class_.

"I suppose you've been hoping you could go outside today again," said Snape, trying to do the usual sneer, but it didn't work. Instead, he thought of himself and Meg sitting by the ocean, watching the sunset, with his arms around her. He actually smiled at Harry, then shook his head. "Umm…yeah. Well, bad news for all of you slackers, because we're not going to."

"Why not?" called Ron. "Don't you want to smooch Professor Smith in here again?"

What did he mean by _again_? How would Ron have known that? Snape sat down in his desk chair and stared at Ron. "What did you just say to me, Weasley?"

"I said," said Ron, more loudly this time, "Aren't you going to send us outside again today so you can call Professor Smith to your office and make out with her? I've got to admit, Professor, I now know that your Love Potions are really strong. Can you make me one?"

Andrea had decided to join the conversation. "You don't need one, Ron." She edged over to him and gave him a huge hug. Harry and Hermione looked at each other.

"Love Potions?" said Snape thickly. "I'm not…my God, you're stupid!"

"Why am I stupid?" said Ron. "I know what you're doing to her. You're stirring Love Potions in your cauldron, I know it. Hey, Harry, why don't I have Hedwig go leave him a 'present' in his cauldron so he can't make any more Love Potions? Ha, I bet he'd really like that…"

"If your ignorance did not allow you to notice," said Snape, teeth gritted, his hand automatically balled up around his wand, "I am still in this room and listening to you."

"Oh," said Ron, feigning a look of dawning comprehension.

"Anyway," said Snape, feeling like he wanted to send everybody outside again, "I'm putting the ingredients up on the board for Strengthening Solution. Here you go."

After the class was halfway over, Snape went to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Andrea's table. Even though it was only to be expected, Hermione was finished with her potion, which was perfect. Harry was desperately trying and failing to make his potion that good before Snape's arrival. Andrea (who was simply grinning) had a potion that looked pretty bad, but Ron's was horrible. It looked like doxy droppings mixed with bile, and who knows what else. He looked rather nervous. Snape was actually glad he could inflict this kind of terror over him, and he thought he would make some use of it.

"Weasley," said Snape silkily, taking out his wand and stirring Ron's potion, which Snape found had the consistency of Jell-O, "do you wish you were good at my classes?"

"Yes," said Ron fearfully.

"Well, SO WOULD I!" Snape shouted in Ron's face, making the majority of the room jump and turn to look at him. Snape went to his desk, leaving only silence in his wake.


	21. Lockhart and Trelawney

A few hours later, after school was out for the day, Lockhart sat in his office, thinking sadly about tomorrow, which would be Wednesday, the wedding. There would be no school on Wednesday. Every student was invited, but they didn't have to come. Lockhart suspected, rather bitterly, that the reason why most people were going to the wedding was because Dumbledore had said they could have as much of the cake and treats as they wanted. Of course, the Slytherins were going because of all that, but Snape was naturally their favorite teacher, as Slytherin's Head of House, who favored Slytherins.

Lockhart's mood had been steadily declining over the past week. He had always admired Snape for his ability with incantations, and Potions, but he just couldn't believe that he, Gilderoy Lockhart, had actually let Snape steal Meg right out from under his nose. He felt himself to be rather weighted with all of it: His fierce desire to have Meg for himself, his raging jealousy of Snape.

Lockhart had never really liked Trelawney, even though he went with her to the Yule Ball. One part of him said he should take whoever he could get his hands on. Part of him said he shouldn't go out with somebody he didn't love, and a third part of him said he didn't want to go out with stupid Trelawney, whether he loved her or not. And a fourth part of him said that that didn't even make sense, because if he loved her he would definitely want to go out with her, and it really wouldn't matter whether she was stupid or not.

_Anyway, I can go see her_. _Maybe I'll make Snape jealous and I can have Meg and he can have Trelawney_. _What do I care_? _She's dumb_, he thought, without any conviction.

It was enough climbing up North Tower every time he wanted to see her. He went into the room where she taught Divination, where she was sitting at her desk, staring rather blankly out the window and humming absentmindedly to herself. When she saw Lockhart, she squealed loudly.

"Hey, lady!" Lockhart shouted as she came to him, just as he had on the day where Dumbledore had set the two of them up. "Lay off, will ya?"

"I predict something in you," said Trelawney mysteriously. "I sense something, love. Great love, and, oh, much jealousy…" She sat him down in a chair and rubbed his shoulders. "I expect that you simply do not realize how much I love you. To me, you're like waves in the ocean, the sun in the sky, but mostly, I think you and I were meant to be. Unlike most, you recognize my Seeing ability."

"Well, it's hard not to recognize, er, talent, like that," said Lockhart awkwardly.

"Ouuu," said Trelawney. "Gilderoy, you big sweetie…I love you so much!" She grabbed his arms and began kissing him furiously. "We should get married, someday, you know."

"M-married?" said Lockhart. "Oh, yeah, we should, we really should…"


	22. The Wedding

That next day, since the wedding was to be at 3:00 PM, most students slept late. Hermione didn't, of course, she always got up at six on weekdays and was too used to it to stop. Harry, Ron, and Andrea all stayed in bed at least two hours more than they usually did.

Snape, however, had gotten up astonishingly early, and was standing in front of a mirror, watching his reflection copy his every move. He was talking to himself.

"Okay. You can do this. Just copy everything Dumbledore says and you'll be fine…" Dumbledore was going to be the one who would read those lines from the book, and finally (Snape's stomach lurched slightly), "you may kiss the bride." Those words would be the words that declared Meg and Snape as husband and wife. Since it was still dark out, Snape went back to bed.

Many hours passed. Finally, it was the time Snape normally woke up around 7:00 a.m. After he had gotten his robes on, he wandered aimlessly around the halls, wishing somebody would just be awake besides him. He went back to his office and made a Calming Drought.

Snape put the mixture in his coffee cup, which said "I love my job…as much as I love slamming my finger in my car door," and drained it. He felt instantly like warm sunshine was spreading over to him, to his toes, warming every part of him, making him very sleepy indeed…

"SEVERUS!"

"Argh!" Snape yelled. He realized he had been sleeping, and that he had made a mistake again. He knew, as the Hogwarts teacher of Potions, that a Calming Drought was not supposed to make its victim go to sleep. He knew he must have accidentally created a Sleeping Potion instead…They were similar…He'd have to have accidentally put sneezewort in instead of two newt's tails…He looked up. Albus Dumbledore was standing in front of him, hands on his hips, his grin annoyingly wide.

"What do you want?" said Snape, rather rudely.

"Nothing," said Dumbledore nicely. "Just that…did you realize it's 2:30? There's about twenty minutes until you have to go to the Great Hall. The House Tables have been cleared. I've set it up for your wedding, Severus…I did everything. Meg is totally happy. Come on."

"Come ON? I'm still wearing my robes…and I was SLEEPING!"

"You said you wanted to wear your robes," said Dumbledore. "Come on, Meg's waiting, she was in the Great Hall since 1:30 PM. Follow me, you know where it is…"

"Look, Albus, listen to me," said Snape, getting up from his chair and rubbing his forehead, which now had a splitting headache. "I can't go now. I just got up from sleeping, Meg expects me to wear a tuxedo, I think I have to wash my hair, I haven't made my Calming Drought…"

"No, no, no," said Dumbledore, pulling Snape's hand rather hard. "You have to go now. And, in any case, it's perfectly natural to be nervous. Come on, not enough time!"

Snape finally allowed Dumbledore to pull him out of the room, towards the Great Hall. When they arrived there, it was quite plain to see that Dumbledore had been right. The Hall was decorated with lots of stuff that you would expect to see at a wedding. Meg was waiting by the table that had the cake on it, which was plenty beautiful. Snape suspected Ron would be all over it.

The cake, albeit delicious-looking, was not the most beautiful thing to Snape: Meg was. Her blonde hair, always amazingly pretty, was now in an exquisite up-do; on top of it was a silver crown. The dress, equally fantastic, was long, white, and made her look like some kind of snow princess. The long white train was trailing behind her, held up by the house-elf named Dobby, who had tears in his large, protuberant eyes. Meg was holding a beautiful bouquet that framed her beaming face. Snape suspected that she was the only one who could ever Stun him without a wand.

Snape felt Dumbledore pull him from behind and lead him up to the altar. Meg followed, the signs of happiness increasing on her face. Snape looked at Dumbledore, who was wiping tears of joy for his granddaughter's wedding day. He was holding the little book.

"Okay," said Dumbledore. "Severus, you stand right here, Meg, you go to the end of the aisle and walk up here to meet him. Dobby, the flowers, please."

"Dobby got flowers," said Dobby, who now had tears streaming down his face; and it was not because of allergies. "Dobby has good flowers to throw down the aisle." He sniffed. "Rose petals."

"Thank you, Dobby," said Dumbledore, pulling out his wand. "Accio Rose Petals!"

The basket of rose petals flew smoothly into Dumbledore's hand. He handed it to Dobby, who was crying his very noisy tears. Dumbledore pocketed his wand and handed Dobby a tissue. Dobby blew his nose and sniffed loudly. Meg walked and stood at the end of the other end of the aisle, at the end that wasn't the altar side. Dumbledore looked around at her.

"Look, you guys," he said. "The students are coming in."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

"My God, she's pretty," said Ron, awestruck.

"She _is_," said Andrea. "I so want her dress. Did she buy it at Madam Malkin's? I don't think so, because whenever I've been there, all they have is robes…"

"I think Dumbledore bought that outfit for her," Harry said.

"Probably in a Muggle town," said Hermione sagely. "They have a lot of wedding stores. I just hope he didn't get anything for Snape, it would be wasted. See, he's not wearing the groom outfit. No, he's just wearing his robes, like usual…And he didn't even comb his hair."

"Git," said Ron vaguely. "He doesn't even care."

They went to sit down. There weren't many people in the Great Hall yet, so they were easily able to find four chairs. They saw Meg, with her pretty wedding dress, Snape, his expression unfathomable, and the house-elf that was crying, Dobby. Hermione looked very sympathetic upon noticing this. Her eyes had turned soft and warm, like she wanted to go over and hug Dobby.

"Welcome," said Dumbledore, "to the wedding of Meg Smith to Severus Snape."

Harry and his friends did not bother to clap at all. They liked Meg; when, or so they thought, she wasn't under the influence of a Love Potion, she was a kind, funny, and interesting person. Snape was a different story, though; none of them had ever really liked him much. Most of the Slytherins clapped rather hard, and a lot of people just sort of halfheartedly threw their hands together.

"Dobby, please proceed down the aisle," said Dumbledore to the sobbing house-elf, who obliged, throwing rose petals out of the basket as he walked towards Snape. After that, Dumbledore gestured to the seats that filled the Great Hall, where Dobby ran into Hermione, who picked him up and hugged him, softly telling him that everything would be all right. Dumbledore addressed Meg.

"Join Severus, please," said Dumbledore, and, as Professor Binns played the wedding march, the bride walked up to the altar, to Snape. Dumbledore joined them with his book.

He read from it, wiping his own tears, slowly streaming down his face, "Severus Snape, do you take this woman, Meg Smith, to be your lawfully wedded wife, forever?"

"I do," said Snape quietly.

"And, Meg Smith," Dumbledore continued, continuing on rather bravely, "do you also take this man, Severus Snape, to be your lawfully wedded husband, also forever?"

"I do," Meg said, her eyes shining with tears not of sadness, but of joy.

"All right, then." Dumbledore pulled out his wand, conjured a tissue, blew his nose on it, and then banished it. He pocketed his wand and smiled weakly. "You may kiss the bride."

This was it…Their lips moved ever closer…They were married, legally married…

"NOOO!" came a shout from the end of the hall. Countless heads turned around at once, and the kiss of marriage was stopped. Harry saw a man standing there with hair the same color as Ron's. His robes were very, very, tattered, and the eyes were rather sickly. He was pocketing his wand and staring at the end of the hall, where Snape and Meg had almost kissed. Meg stared.

Harry had never seen such a look in her brown eyes before. It was like something had been chained in her eyes for so long, and it was now being set free. She blinked, twice, and stared at herself. She seemed not to know why she was wearing a wedding dress anymore; she had forgotten.

She looked up at the man at the doors of the Great Hall.

"It's him," she whispered.

Suddenly the man was running, running toward Meg and catching her in his arms. Harry was now thinking that the tattered robes looked familiar, like he'd seen this man before somewhere…His brain seemed to be caught in the claw of a crab as he struggled to think where…

He looked over at Ron and received such a shock that he almost jumped in his chair. Ron's hair was no longer vividly red; it was now black. He looked at Harry. "What?"

"Ron…y-your hair…" Harry said.

"What about it?" said Ron. The man's hair, Harry noticed, was rather long, and very dirty, like he hadn't washed it in days. Ron felt his own; the texture was the same. "Nothing!"

Harry shrugged, said "Oh," and turned to look at the scene that was occurring at the altar. The man was now holding Meg in his arms. She was smiling, like she knew him.

Finally, the man spoke. His croaky voice was also familiar to Harry.

"My name is…umm…Alphonso…umm…Chang," said the red-haired man, smiling. "And I've come here today, for, well, somebody tipped me off about Snape here." Strangely, the man's eyes came to rest on Harry. Those eyes, those gray eyes…He had seen them before, he knew…

The rather mad grin on the man's face grew wider. "I love Meg Smith."

He bent down and kissed her, right on the lips. Meg stood up, laughing. "Yes, Alphonso, I do love you, too…How's my baby been doing? Oh, you look rather sick, you know…"

"Never mind that now," said the man, turning to Snape. "Why are you marrying my girl?"

"You," Snape hissed savagely. "You, it was you she loved all along." His eyes glinted maliciously as he pulled out his wand and uttered a spell. "_Naturala_!" The audience gasped.

Harry knew where he'd seen this man before. Now Ron's hair was red again, the man's black and dirty, like it had first appeared. Snape grinned rather evilly and stared at him.

"Why don't I call the Ministry of Magic?" Snape said. "This, my friends, is Sirius Black."

Dumbledore, who hadn't talked all this time, probably out of amazement, now did speak. "Stop it, right now, you all, and listen to me. Sirius Black is, indeed, innocent."

"No!" shouted a random person. "Dumbledore's been Imperiused, don't you see?"

"I have not been Imperiused, for I can resist the curse just as well, and perhaps better, than you could, if you'll let me be frank," said Dumbledore. "All I ask from you all is that you listen to reason. Why, as you are surely asking yourselves, does Meg here love Sirius Black if he is a notorious criminal? You know she's an Auror, and a rather famous one, too. In fact, I have recently found evidence that Sirius really is innocent, and, soon, I will be handing it over to the Ministry of Magic. Sirius Black's innocence, very soon, will be announced in the Daily Prophet, and you will see my evidence."

"Harry," Sirius called. "Hey!"

Of course, Harry knew what he was doing. Harry waved back, and said, "Hi, Sirius! Isn't it dumb of them to think you're a criminal? I can't believe it? How are you doing?"

"Hmmm, fine," Sirius told him, so the whole crowd could hear it. "Being _good_."

"Alright!" Dumbledore shouted. "Meg, please take Sirius to your office. I will deal with you two sometime later today. Audience, please leave and proceed with your daily activities. Severus, I want to see you in my office immediately after you come out of this Great Hall."


	23. Reunited

Meg, wordlessly, took Sirius's hand and led him to her office. She was glad she wasn't by an altar with Snape, about to get married, but she was still very confused about what had happened. Why had she been marrying Snape? What had he done? And why did Sirius look sick?

Meg sat down, voicing her very first concern. "How could I let him do that?"

"How could you not have?" Sirius asked, answering her with a question. "You see, you can thank my godson, Harry, for my being here in the first place. He told me, in a letter, that you were going to marry one of his teachers, Snape. He said he and his friends thought he was using a Love Potion. And Harry was wrong on that account, I'm pretty sure. It was a Romance Charm, wasn't it?"

They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds. Sirius put his arm around Meg, who closed her eyes and tried to stop the flow of emotion running through her.

Meg suddenly remembered something. She remembered, vaguely, Snape holding her in his arms while she cried onto his shoulders, him telling her she had been put under a Romance Charm by him, and that she wasn't believing him. She opened her eyes, staring at Sirius.

"Yes…" she whispered. "I remember. I do."

She looked at Sirius, concern showing through his tired, gray eyes. She knew that not many people could, or would even try, but she saw the handsome-ness shining through the face hollowed by Azkaban, sadness, and hunger. Next thing she knew, she was in Sirius's arms, though she had no memory whatsoever of going there. He was rubbing her back; she did not want him to see her cry.

"I'm worried about you, too, you know," she said tearfully.

"Don't worry about me," said Sirius quickly. "I'm just…well…don't go yelling at me, Meg, but I've been living in a cave…and eating mostly rats…" He trailed off.

"Heavens, why?" said Meg.

"For Harry," said Sirius, shrugging. "Anyway…no matter. What I want to say is that you should never let Snape do anything more to you, ever. Try to stay out of his way."

"All right," said Meg, climbing onto Sirius's lap and kissing his cheek. "I was just wondering where you were. Are you sure you're not sick? You certainly must be hungry."

Suddenly, the door of Meg's office opened. It was Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Andrea. Sirius jumped when he saw them. He ran over and hugged them each in turn. Harry found himself hugging his godfather rather hard. His sister, Andrea, said, "Hi, Sirius. Pick me up."

"Oh…fine, then…" Sirius laughed and picked Andrea up, hugging her some more. Harry scowled at her as Sirius put her down. Andrea smiled at Harry and kissed Ron.

"What was that for?" said Ron, rubbing his cheek.

"Because I wanted to." Andrea laughed and turned back to Sirius. "Well, we knew you two would be in here, you know, because Dumbledore said so. So we went to find you."

"How was the Yule Ball?" Sirius asked her. Meg stood up behind him and latched herself onto his arm. She was rather shorter than he was. Andrea laughed and kissed Ron's cheek again. Ron glared at her and inched away slowly.

"Well, most of it was rather wonderful, wasn't it, Ron?" Andrea asked Ron, laughing. "Ron and I danced all night. Ron kept trying to get the cookies, but I stopped him. He still thinks they're made of dried doxy droppings. And, would you even believe it, he trampled my feet."

"It was fun with Harry and I," said Hermione. "Harry didn't step on my foot once."

Sirius smiled. "I wish I could have gone. What I think the Romance Charm does is, when you see your true love's face, the spell's broken. If I had been there, Meg wouldn't even have had a chance to propose to Snape. And then there wouldn't even have been a wedding."

"I proposed?" Meg said incredulously. "I thought he proposed to me." She hugged Sirius in a rather little girl like way, and they held each other. Meg sighed and said sadly, "That's even worse than him proposing to me and my agreeing. I just can't believe I let him do that."

"It's okay," said Sirius in a would-be calm voice. "I think the Romance Charm is harder to resist than the Imperius Curse if somebody does it correctly. At least, I think it is…"

Harry couldn't help laughing at the look on Sirius's face as Meg pulled him closer to her and kissed him rather dramatically right on the lips. Hermione rolled her eyes, probably at the fact that there were three couples in the room and two thirds of them kissing. Indeed, Andrea and Ron were kissing again, and Harry and Hermione looked at each other, laughed, and watched it all.


	24. Snape's Plan Discovered

"Yes, Headmaster?" said Snape rather timidly as he went into Dumbledore's office. "So, are you angry at me? Because…" He sat down, exhausted. "You should be."

"Severus, I am not angry with you," said Dumbledore, to Snape's surprise. "How can I ever be angry at something like the love you have for my granddaughter? However, I truly must admit that I am very disappointed in you. You lied to me about Meg, you know."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"You tricked me," said Dumbledore. "I knew the moment Meg's Romance Charm broke. We were all forced to prepare this wedding for you, and it was horrible to do, I must say. You must never do something like that again. I am now banning Romance Charms at Hogwarts."

"Headmaster," said Snape, "do you have any respect for what I feel like right now?"

"Yes, I do, Severus," Dumbledore said, and Snape thought he saw a twinkle of understanding in the headmaster's eyes. "You've just lost the woman you love the very most to the man you hate the very most."

"So what are you going to do to me?" said Snape. "You're going to sack me, right?"

"Oh, of course not," Dumbledore told Snape, who felt relief surge through him. "All I'm going to do is tell you that someday, somebody will come along who likes you for who you really are, not how good you make a Romance Charm. It could take a day, a week, a year, two years…Just remember, though, that someday, your perfect match will probably come and find you."

"I don't know," said Snape. "No girls ever liked me."

"Well, just open yourself up a bit," Dumbledore said gently. "If I can remember correctly, all you ever did was catch up on spells nobody else in your year knew yet. That particular kind of studying left not a lot of time to talk to people. Sorry to say, my granddaughter has been rather heartless around you. She's never going to go out with you, but there are some people you've never even met yet, I know that, and you can tell them what a fabulous person you are. That's all."

"I lied to you." Snape sighed. "Aren't you going to do anything about it?"

"Meg has never liked you. Am I correct in stating that you only put the Romance Charm on her because you loved her, and lied to me because you thought I would make you lift it? I cannot ever, ever be angry at true love. I am only disappointed in your lying."

"I just thought…"

"That is all, Severus. Unless you want to be sacked, then I can arrange something and we can get a new teacher for Potions. If you don't want to be sacked, that's all."

"Okay," said Snape. "Then…look. I used to be a Death Eater, remember? Some people just don't believe me when I say I was under a curse. The point is, they'll hear my name and I'm out of here." Then he paused as hate and jealousy surged through him. "Why does Black have to ruin everything for me? I had her, our lips were this close apart" (he showed it with his fingers) "and then he had to come running in, and he broke the stupid Charm…AND SHE JUST RAN OFF WITH HIM!"

"Severus, don't shout," said Dumbledore. "Meg, I believe, has had feelings for Sirius as long as you have for Meg. That's since you both were eleven. She likes him better than she likes you, if you'll let me be frank, and you'll just have to live with it. And you know what you did wasn't right. Part of the reason why you used to get so nervous is because you were so guilty."

"I thought of lifting the Charm," Snape mumbled, "but I never did."

"What is love?" said Dumbledore softly. "Is it insanity? No. It is merely the only thing that could ever cancel out hate. Hate cannot run out hate. Only love can do that."

_Hate cannot run out hate_. _Only love can do that_.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.


	25. Snape and Sirius Meet Again

Finally, Sirius and Meg stopped kissing. They made Ron and Andrea stop, too, because they were going to go to Dumbledore's office. Andrea pouted and said, "Oh, but I want to keep kissing Ron. If you ask me, I'd say he needs a bit more practice. I'm helping him."

Sirius laughed. "Yeah, but we're going into Dumbledore's office right now. I just don't think it's going to be very polite to kiss when somebody's talking to you."

"He wouldn't mind," Andrea protested.

"Well…alright," Sirius said, laughing again. "I guess if he doesn't mind…Actually, I don't think he will, Andrea. Okay, you can kiss Ron to your heart's desire."

"Super," said Andrea, and the six of them, Sirius, Meg, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Andrea, all went halfway to Dumbledore's office. Then, they walked into Snape, who glared at Sirius and pulled his wand out immediately. Sirius pulled out his wand, too.

"Black." Snape pointed his wand at Sirius's face.

"Snape." Sirius jabbed Snape slightly with his own wand.

"Black."

"Snape."

"BLACK!"

"SNAPE!"

"Ron," said Ron, sniggering. Everybody else watched Snape and Sirius, circling, their wands held inches apart from one another's faces. Snape spoke first.

"You can't steal her from me, Black," he hissed.

"Umm, I think I just did," said Sirius, with fresh sniggers from everybody but Meg. She was just standing there, her mouth slightly open. Suddenly, some red light flashed from Snape's wand, narrowly missing Sirius's head. Sirius flashed some red light at Snape.

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" Meg suddenly cried, jumping between the two of them. "I know somebody's going to get hurt if you don't stop it! And Snape, I don't think I can forgive you, but Sirius, I-I can't lose you again!" Harry could see tears running down her face.

"Do you honestly care what happens to this lunatic?" Snape said, knowing the answer.

"Yes, I do!" said Meg, turning on Snape. "If there was one person, in this world, who I don't care about, it would be you. I don't care what Sirius does to you!"

"Ha. See?" Sirius stuck his tongue out at Snape. "She likes me better."

Snape ignored him and turned to Meg. "You know what, Meg? I still love you, but you don't love me, and you never will. So just leave me alone, will you?"

He walked away. Meg called after him, "Fine! You're the lunatic, not Sirius! Y-you're so ugly that I can't believe your stupid Romance Charm even worked on me!"

Sirius slowly pocketed his wand. "What do you mean, you couldn't lose me again?"

"I knew you were innocent," she said, "ever since Remus Lupin taught here. See, he knew we had been going out. And we started talking about you. And then I _remembered_. Remember, I was one of the few people you told that you changed the Romance Charm? You didn't tell Remus, because you thought he was the spy. I told him so, but he didn't believe me. And finally…that night…just before he left…the truth was proved to him, too. I always wished you would come back, but you never did. Nobody knew exactly where you were. I lost you fourteen years ago, Sirius. Snape could've killed you."

"He could not have," said Sirius. "And anyway, what did you tell the other Aurors?"

"Well, I told them I hated you now for what you did, and then I told them I knew you the best out of any of them, and so I should be in charge of the hunt for you. And after I found out you were innocent, I tell them you're in a different continent or something, wrong information."

"Oh," said Sirius. "Well…thank you."

"Oh, it's fine," said Meg. "All that matters is that you love me…and I know you do." Harry watched them and just wishing that Hermione would like kissing sometimes. And, finally, the two of them pulled away from each other. Sirius said, "C'mon, Dumbledore's waiting for us."

Harry and Sirius walked behind the rest of the crowd going to Dumbledore's. Watching everybody talking and laughing, Harry said to his godfather, "How'd you learn to kiss like that?"

"You learn a lot of things, locked up in a wizard prison for twelve years," said Sirius slowly, "but kissing isn't one of them. My parents kissed a lot. And I kissed Meg a lot, too…"

"Hermione doesn't like kissing much," said Harry. "Andrea and Ron kiss all the time. It's almost like they're addicted to it or something. In fact, I've never kissed anybody before."

"It's fun," said Sirius rather distantly. He returned his godson's glare with a grin, and said, "If she doesn't like kissing, then, I don't see how you could've ever kissed anybody. That's all right, you know. I didn't want her as a girlfriend until I was in my fifth year. Meg liked me, she just kept on asking me out, and, even though she was really pretty, I can tell you, it was a real pain in the neck…"

Harry laughed quietly. "I don't want to kiss as much as Ron and Andrea do, but, if she'd only just kiss me once in a while…I think…maybe…oh, never mind…she would never…"

"You know what you should do?" said Sirius. "Christmas is coming up. Try to catch her under the mistletoe, everybody knows what it means. And then she'll have to kiss you."

"Thanks," said Harry, smiling.

"Don't even mention it," said Sirius. "Go up and join them all. I think they're waiting for you. In any case, Harry, Hermione does like you. Otherwise, she wouldn't have taken you to the Yule Ball. Remember, she said that you never stepped on her feet even once."


	26. Celeste

Snape was absolutely sure, as sure as the giant squid in the lake wasn't tiny, that nobody would go out with him if they weren't under some sort of Charm, and he also knew he wasn't going to go through the stupid affair with the Romance Charms again. He was never going to do that.

He was walking in Hogsmeade. The sun was setting, and Dumbledore had given Sirius a place to stay at Hogwarts for the night, on a couch in Dumbledore's office with an old blanket. Sirius really hadn't wanted to go back to the cave, now he had found Meg again. After missing her for over twelve years, he thought the same way she felt about him. He wasn't going to lose her again.

Snape, however, thought he was being stupid. He could just tell her where he was, and anyway, he should just be grateful Meg liked him at all. Snape remembered one time where he had asked Meg out, back when he went to school with her, she had actually just burst into tears and ran away. He had later found out Sirius had just rejected her (it had been near Valentine's Day). He remembered how he had sat in the Slytherin common room, alone, blasting things and repairing them, until Slytherin's Head of House saw him and told him to stop it. He had never forgotten that day.

Snape was walking around, eyes downcast, with a furious expression. He had dropped in on the place where he bought his Potions ingredients, mad at everybody, especially Sirius Black. Suddenly, he felt himself collide rather hard with somebody. Everything dropped to the ground.

"Watch where you're going!" Snape yelled, then he looked up.

A woman with straight brown hair tied in a loose ponytail and brown eyes full of warmth looked up at him, then spoke in a shy voice. "Oh, I'm so sorry, sir, I didn't mean to do that…here…let me help you with that…I'm so sorry…"

"It's quite all right," Snape whispered. She was pretty, almost as pretty as Meg was…He saw himself stick out his hand towards the woman on the ground still trying to help pick up his stuff. "Hi, nice to meet you…" He shook her hand rather enthusiastically. "I'm Severus Snape."

"Celeste Grimmauld." The woman smiled. She was even prettier when she smiled.

"Hi," he said. "Sorry about that, my bad. I wasn't watching where I was going. Pretty bad day so far, actually…Just buying Potions ingredients, you know…Why are you here?"

Celeste blushed. "Oh, nothing, just window shopping, you know. I like to stop in the Quidditch shops, you know. I couldn't play Quidditch if you paid me, I'm dead clumsy, part of the reason I bumped into you tonight…but, you know, I like looking at the brooms. The Firebolt's pretty cool, isn't it? Hey, do you play Quidditch? You know, maybe you could give me some tips or something."

"No, actually, I don't," said Snape. "I never really liked it much."

Celeste looked rather embarrassed this time, but she spoke again, nevertheless. "Hey, maybe you and I can drop into the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer or something. Sound fun?"

"Oh…well…I…" Snape couldn't believe she was asking him out, or even if she was.

"That's all right, I was just thinking…stupid idea…" Her face bright red, she turned to walk up the street, but Snape stopped her. She turned around. "Really, Severus, I have to go."

"Haven't you got a minute to spare?" Snape didn't know if it would embarrass her or not, but then he said, "You didn't have anywhere to go before you wanted to go to the Three Broomsticks. Let's go, I've got…I've got loads of time on my hands, Celeste. Come on, I like butterbeer."

"Really? You would? With…with me?" said Celeste.

"Why not?" said Snape. Celeste did not answer. They walked into the Three Broomsticks. Celeste looked down at her butterbeer, awkwardly silent, not saying anything at all.

"All right…" Snape thought a bit. "Tell me about yourself."

"Well…okay," she said. "I started school in the seventies. I went to Beauxbatons, because I grew up in France, that's where the school is. Right after my graduation, I moved to London. I was eleven in the year of 1971; that's when I started my school, when I was eleven. Isn't that when Hogwarts lets you start school, too? When you're eleven?" She paused. "When did you start school?"

"Same year as you," Snape answered. "1971."

"Oh…well…that's a coincidence," said Celeste, and the awkward silence returned. Snape now realized that Celeste was extremely shy. He would have to carry the conversation on for her. He looked at her slowly, and said, "Celeste, I'm a teacher at Hogwarts. You can come and see the school with me. I can show you my office, and everything, and I can show you my classroom…"

"You teach at Hogwarts?" said Celeste. "I'd rather go there than Beauxbatons. You're so lucky to have a headmaster like Dumbledore, isn't he so cool? And so smart, too…"

"Yes, I enjoy him," said Snape. "Well, come on, Celeste, what are you waiting for?" And then he pulled her hands, and the two of them just left Hogsmeade, together.


	27. Sirius, Dumbledore, and Meg

That next morning, Sirius did not want to get up. Something was telling him that night after horrid night of sleeping in a cave was now over. Something told him he was on a nice, soft, warm, couch, with a blanket thrown over him. He did not remember where he was for a moment…

And then he did. He opened his eyes and looked around. There was nobody there, but, he, Sirius, was alone in Dumbledore's office. Yes, Dumbledore had told him he was sleeping here, tonight…He sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily. Yes, he was sleepy, he must go back to sleep now…

_Wait_, he told himself. _Meg is here. What time is it_…?

He looked wildly around for a clock. Then he saw that it was already 11:00 AM, and that he had just basically slept away the whole afternoon. He got up and went to put on the tattered gray robes that he had been wearing for so long, then discovered Dumbledore had gotten him new green robes. They were soft, and not at all tattered, so Sirius decided to put them on instead.

After that, he smoothed his rather filthy hair out the best he could, seeing as there wasn't a comb in sight, or a mirror. Then he rubbed his face with his hands, hoping his face didn't look too tired, and then he finally found a half-eaten ice cream sundae on Dumbledore's desk. There was a spoon there, so he put it up to his face, and saw that his face would probably need more rubbing.

Just then, Dumbledore's office door opened, and Dumbledore walked in. He looked at Sirius and smiled warmly. "I see you're wearing those robes I got you…Well, come sit down. I was hoping you'd be awake…Sirius…oh, come on in, Meg, it's all right, he's awake…"

"Oh, hi Sirius! Good morning," she said. Then she saw her grandfather, Dumbledore, and went to sit down on his lap. "Hi, Grandpa…I love you." She kissed him on his nose. All three laughed as Meg conjured a chair.

"All right, you guys," Dumbledore said, as Meg sat next to Sirius in her chair. "I didn't think you'd want to hear this, but Severus got himself a new girlfriend. They were walking around school with each other, Severus was showing her his office and everything. Right afterwards, Celeste kissed him on his cheek, told him she had a wonderful time, and left with a huge smile."

"Who's Celeste?" said Sirius. "His girlfriend?"

"Yes, in fact." Dumbledore smiled out the window. "She's French and went to Beauxbatons. I just have to say that I never saw Severus so happy since…well…forever. So I'm going to have to ask one thing of you, Sirius. I know you don't like Severus, but, don't ruin it for him."

"Well, then, I won't," said Sirius. "Why should I, when I've got Meg?"

And then Meg moved from her chair to sit on _Sirius's_ lap, this time, and soon the two of them were kissing like they would never be able to kiss again.

"I love you," Sirius said, and Meg said the same back to him.


	28. Snow

Snow began to fall around Hogwarts. The grounds were a glorious white, and people were having snowball fights and making snowmen and sledding. The enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall showed snow swirling around a bright blue sky, the winter sun glaring at them from behind a cloud. Fred and George had bewitched snowballs to come up and hit the windows of Gryffindor Tower. Ron and Andrea constantly got themselves stuck in snowball fights, but Harry and Hermione just liked to sit on a bench together and watch the snowfall. Harry looked at Hermione, then watched Ron and Andrea.

Sure enough, his twin sister was French-kissing Ron again. The snow was falling on Andrea's hair, done in pigtails, as usual. Ron looked like he was enjoying himself.

"They shouldn't kiss so much," Harry heard Hermione say. "It's rather disgusting."

Harry remembered what Sirius had told him about the mistletoe. Christmas was now only a week away, after all. It had only been the day before yesterday that Snape had tried to marry Meg. Already it seemed weeks away. And where was Harry going to find mistletoe, anyway?

Suddenly, a door opened, and Sirius and Meg ran out. They were both wearing snow clothes, and they were pelting each other with snowballs. Sirius looked over and waved at Harry and Hermione, as he ran away from Meg, laughing loudly. Finally, she got him rather hard.

"Hey! No fair!" cried Sirius, sitting down, wiping snow from his eyes.

Harry ran over to him. If Sirius had suggested mistletoe, he would probably know where it could be found, wouldn't he? Sirius grinned up at Harry, still wiping snowflakes.

"She's good at throwing snowballs," he informed his godson. "Wanna play with us?"

"Oh…no, thanks," said Harry, half-laughing. "Okay, can you come over here? I want to ask you something." He went to the wall, followed by Sirius, who was still grinning.

"Sure, Harry," he said. "What is it?"

Harry looked over at Hermione. "It's Hermione. I like the idea with the mistletoe…but I just don't have any idea where to find it…and, besides, how would I catch her under it?"

"I spent four Christmases where Meg has cornered me under mistletoe and made me kiss her, until I finally started liking her back…she almost gave up on me. She never did, though." Sirius grinned fondly in Meg's direction. "She caught me under doorways, everything. The best one was in my fourth year, though. We had a pretty special Christmas party that year…and some of the teachers were drinking themselves into oblivion. So, anyway, I was talking with my friends at a table, and Meg had one of her friends come over and get me. She said I was in trouble and McGonagall wanted me. Turns out she didn't, and, well, Meg was waiting for me by the Ravenclaw table. She bewitched the mistletoe to hover over my head, she pinned me against a wall, and snogged me _senseless_."

"You fainted?" said Harry incredulously.

"Almost." Sirius rolled his eyes at the thought of a fourteen-year-old Meg trying to kiss him under mistletoe she had bewitched to chase him. "Your father had to wave something in front of my face, I can't remember what. Meg is a rather good kisser, you know."

"So you're saying I have to pin her against a wall?" said Harry. "I don't want…"

"No, of course you don't," said Sirius, putting his hand on Harry's shoulder. "Somehow, Harry, I don't think Hermione would like that very much. Just pin some up in a doorway…like…oh, I know. How about you put it right in front of the portrait hole in Gryffindor Tower? You guys always walk together, so just let Ron and Andrea go ahead of you…oh, and don't let them see it."

"They'd kiss anyway, mistletoe or not," said Harry, laughing.

"Fair point." Sirius grinned. "As for finding mistletoe, Harry, it's easy. I don't think you even have to find any. The teachers put it up everywhere. All you have to do is steal some and hang it in front of the portrait hole in Gryffindor Tower. It's _everywhere_."

"I shouldn't steal it," said Harry quickly.

"They won't mind if you steal a bit of mistletoe," said Sirius. "They might even hang it up in all the portrait holes anyway…Look, don't worry. Just point above your head, and say, 'Oh, hey, mistletoe,' or something like that, and she _has to _kiss you. You'll be all right. Now, come on, I need somebody else who can play on my side." He pulled Harry's hand. "Meg! Two against one!"

"Oh, no, you don't," Meg said, making a snowball and throwing it at Sirius. It was a great shot, because it beaned Sirius upside the head, and made him fall down again.

"Hey! Professor Smith! Think fast!" Harry cried. His snowball hit Meg's head.

"Nice one!" Sirius yelled. "Ha, ha, Meg! Point for us! You better get another player on your team, or we're totally going to win!" He threw another snowball at Meg.

It got her in the face. She collapsed on the ground, laughing, wiping snow from her eyes. "You are sooo dead, Sirius!" She pelted another snowball at Sirius but missed entirely.

"Hey! Can we play?" It was Andrea, Ron, and Hermione.

"Sure!" Meg cried. "Hermione and Andrea, you both can be on my team, and Ron, you can go on Harry and Sirius's team so it'll be fair. Okay, guys, let's roll."

"No," said Hermione. "Ron, you can go on Professor Smith's team." She smiled. "I just think I want to be on Harry's team instead." She caught Harry's eye and smiled again.

Harry smiled back at her, and the snowball fight was much more fun after that.


	29. Goodbye

While that very snowball fight was taking place, Snape and Celeste were standing out in the snowy front yard to Hogwarts. They were standing there, looking at each other awkwardly.

"That was…was fun," Celeste said in a small voice (they had just been on another date).

"It was," said Snape. He felt he should kiss her or something, but he couldn't think how. Should he just, like, corner her on a wall or something? "Celeste, you're…you're really a wonderful woman."

"I…umm…"

"It's okay," said Snape and suddenly he knew what to do. He grabbed her in his arms, held her close, and she looked up at him. Snape knew they weren't going to kiss now, they had only known each other for one day, and maybe not even that. He knew Sirius and Meg kissed a lot, but they had known each other for over thirteen years. Now when Snape thought of them he smiled. He was _totally_ over Meg.

"You're great, too," said Celeste, slowly detaching herself from Snape. Snape was actually glad; that sort of thing was built for kissing or crying, and when neither was happening it was quite awkward. "I've never known a Potions Master before."

Snape smiled. "What about the one from Beouxbatons?"

"She said making potions couldn't be taught," said Celeste, rolling her eyes. "She told us it was something we had to find in our hearts. We had to find something she called the 'eye of the potion'. She said if we didn't know how to make the potion without somebody telling it, then we didn't have it and never would, and it was utter nonsense, you know, but…" Celeste giggled. "Anyway, what I meant was that you're the only _real_ Potions Master this woman's ever met."

"Yeah well…" Snape shrugged. "Nice seeing you, Celeste. I've got to be leaving now."

"Oh, no, stay!" Celeste cried. "You're the only one who's ever…never mind. Just…before you go…" It was quite surprising to Snape. Celeste smiled. "Have a good one." She blew a kiss with her hand and then laughed, even though she didn't sound very happy. Snape couldn't understand why, seeing as he had had very much of a good time with her and thought she felt the same way. He couldn't ask her, though, so he just watched her walk away before thinking of something.

Maybe it was _more_ she wanted! He pulled out his wand and conjured a little slip of paper and a pencil, on which he wrote his address. He wanted her to have it. Maybe _that_ would cheer her up.

She was almost out of sight. "Celeste…wait!"

"Huh?" Celeste said, turning, a hopeful look on her innocently pretty face.

"My address," Snape said, handing it to her.

She looked crestfallen. Snape didn't know why…but if this wasn't it, he wasn't going to try and sort it out some more. He just smiled at her and she smiled at him, and then the two of them left, Snape still feeling confused, Celeste staring at the little piece of paper Snape had given her.

Snape's first _real_ relationship had begun.


	30. The Last Chapter

Christmas Day was slowly approaching. Harry decided that he was going to pin the mistletoe up in the portrait hole tonight. When he said the password, though, he saw that it was already there. And Sirius was sitting in the Gryffindor common room with Hermione, Ron, and Andrea. Andrea and Ron, of course, were kissing again. Sirius waved Harry over, but Harry couldn't go.

A little first year girl with brown hair and big brown eyes was looking up at him. She pointed to the mistletoe hung above them, and said, "Look, Harry, mistletoe."

"How do you know my name?" said Harry.

"Everybody knows who you are," said the girl. "My name is Bridget Sharlas. And we have to kiss because we two were under the mistletoe together. So, come on…"

Bridget Sharlas was rather shorter than Harry, since he was more than three years older than she was, so she had to lower down his face. She tried to kiss him, hard, on the lips, but it didn't work out. She just sort of missed and rubbed her face against his cheek or something. Harry went to the couch with Sirius and the rest of them, his face burning. Bridget, embarrassed half out of her mind, had already retreated up the girls' staircase. Harry sat down and didn't look at anybody.

"I know that girl," said Andrea. "You know, Bridget Sharlas? She's a really bad kisser. I tried to give her lessons, but she missed her own arm." Andrea sighed.

"Who put the mistletoe up there?" said Hermione.

"I did," said Sirius. "I know I shouldn't have, but I just thought it would be…you know…just a sort of romantic, Christmas-y thing…It was a pretty dumb idea."

"I don't even _know _Bridget," said Harry, rather miserably. "She just came up to me and missed my lips completely." He groaned. "That's not how kissing is supposed to be."

Sirius put his arm around Harry. "Sorry, Harry. It was my fault."

"That's okay." Harry sighed and looked around at the four of them. "Do any of you think that's going to count for my first kiss? Because she completely missed me."

"I think it counts," said Andrea wisely.

"You can just pretend it never happened," said Ron. "When people ask you who your first kiss was with, just say you never kissed anybody." He stared around the room, then jumped. "Oh, I know! You can use Hermione's old Time-Turner and just not kiss that Bridget girl!"

"How thick are you, Ron?" said Hermione, rolling her eyes. "I gave that thing back to the Ministry ages ago, didn't you know? Anyway, Harry, of course it doesn't count."

"Why not?" said Harry.

"Because your first kiss, I think, has to be with somebody you like," said Hermione. Harry's heart was beating rather faster than usual as she said this, and he didn't exactly know why. "And I-I can give you that tonight, if you want." They hugged each other, like the best friends that they were, and then Hermione kissed Harry's cheek. They pulled away from each other, both blushing.

"You don't just kiss him on his cheek, Hermione," said Ron. "You have to do _this_."

Ron and Andrea started their kissing again, not French-kissing, but it was definitely kissing. They pulled away from each other, not embarrassed at all, like the perfect couple.

"She didn't even kiss you, Harry," said Sirius. "You said yourself, she missed."

Harry didn't talk anymore, he was thinking. What if all Hermione ever did was kiss people on the cheek, and not on their lips? What if she just didn't know anything else?

Ron, much to Hermione's protesting, took her head and pushed it toward Harry's. Harry didn't even know what was going on, until he looked up. "Argh, Ron, stop it!"

It was very strange, Harry thought, having his lips smashed on Hermione's by Ron. Once his arms lifted, though, they didn't let go. They kissed once on the lips, perfectly. When they pulled away, after what seemed like an eternity, they were both smiling, and so was Sirius. Ron was grinning rather contentedly at the two of them, but Andrea was looking rather astonished at them all.

"You know, Harry," she said, "I think there just might be hope for you after all."

THE END!

Please review…hope you enjoyed it!


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